Go to a village in any part of India and ask an address to anyone. They will stand up if they are sitting, come near your car and will try to explain you that address in the best possible way. If you by chance ask a group, you may as well receive multiple suggestions.
These people don't get any reward but they feel happy that they have helped someone find what they are searching for.
I think this is the same satisfaction people get, answering questions on Quora.
Have you at any point asked yourself, 'Who am I, as a matter of fact?' Am I a dad, a spouse, a companion, a designer, a voyager or a patient? Truly based on a child you are a dad. You are the spouse based on the wife. You are going in a train, thusly you are an explorer. Every one of your characters, anything that you put stock in, are undeniably founded on others. Then, who are you? A dad, a spouse or a voyager?
1-By not knowing the solution to the inquiry 'Who am I?', you continue to make new characters of yourself, because of which you create some distance from your actual self. Every one of the agonies in life are because of not knowing your actual personality. Until you understand your real essence, you see yourself as by the name that has been given to you.
2-So who are you? As a general rule, you are a timeless soul. For endless lives the spirit was under the front of obliviousness. Along these lines, we have been not able to encounter Oneself. With the finesse of the Gnani Purush, we can now encounter our real essence through a logical investigation called Gyan Vidhi. From that point, you won't just have a comprehension of the unadulterated soul, yet in addition experience genuine satisfaction.
3-A vital looking man entered the air terminal. There was a long line at the registration counter. This man broke the line and went directly to the counter and began showing his identification and ticket.
The lady dealing with the counter said - "Sir, there is a line here, if it's not too much trouble, stand in line."
He said - "No, no I am in a rush, I need to go."
She said - "No, kindly substitute line".
Then, at that point, he said - "Do you have any idea about who I'm?" The lady promptly got the mike and said - "There is a man here who doesn't have any idea what his identity is, might anybody at any point help him?"
Nobody can help him, since everybody is experiencing the same thing. Everybody is living here without knowing their real essence. Without knowing the fundamental things about it, we are attempting to carry on with our life. All the disorder is a result of this.
"Who am I?" - This question is the most strange inquiry of your life.
On the off chance that you don't have the foggiest idea what your identity is, do you know anything more without a doubt? On the off chance that you don't actually have the foggiest idea what your identity is, can you know any person or thing?
In the event that you don't have any idea who you are, everything becomes one major joke. Then, at that point, the main comfort is that everybody is with you. This is the first and most significant thing that you ought to do in your life. As a matter of some importance it ought to be realized who is this (highlighting self), what is the idea of my reality?
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“Who am I?”
A human before I am a woman.
A human before I am an Indian.
A human before I am a Hindu.
A human before I am a brown person.
A human before I am a doctor.
A human before I belong to a certain caste.
A human before I call myself heterosexual.
A human before I call myself physically able.
“Who am I?”
I am just another human being, who strongly feels that the world needs more people who place humanity over gender, race, class, color, creed, religion, nationality, ethnicity, sexual orientation and disability.
5 October 2022
People believe that this body, which is just their shape and form, is themselves. But is this really true?
Would the tree that is settled in an open field consider its tree-shape as itself? Would this chair that I’m sitting in, writing this post, have any notion that this chair-shape is itself? Probably not. “Chair” and “tree” is simply a name that people give to a certain shape for convenience. Mountains, clouds, rivers, they all just exist as emptiness itself, where there is nothing – they don’t live by the names that people give them. But why is it that only us humans believe that this body,
People believe that this body, which is just their shape and form, is themselves. But is this really true?
Would the tree that is settled in an open field consider its tree-shape as itself? Would this chair that I’m sitting in, writing this post, have any notion that this chair-shape is itself? Probably not. “Chair” and “tree” is simply a name that people give to a certain shape for convenience. Mountains, clouds, rivers, they all just exist as emptiness itself, where there is nothing – they don’t live by the names that people give them. But why is it that only us humans believe that this body, which is a certain shape and form, is ourselves?
The stars in the sky, the sun, the moon, mountains, rivers, trees, rabbits, and I all came from emptiness itself where there is nothing. Emptiness is a place where everything can come forth in different shapes depending on the condition because emptiness is a living, non-material existence. We all came from the same place, and we are all the same, but why do only humans think differently? It is true that we humans are the “stewards of creation”, but we need to reflect on why that is.
When I was a college student, our class would take 2-day trips every summer. At night, we sat around and took turns telling scary stories. Some other girls said they had seen ghosts, so we laughed and shrieked, and had fun. When it was my turn, I told my story: Back in middle school, one day, I got on the bus to go home after school. Suddenly, I became severely ill and I was in terrible pain. I barely made it home in time to collapse on bed. I hadn’t even changed out of my school clothes. After some time passed, I opened my eyes and I found that I was on the ceiling, staring down at myself who was still passed out on my bed. It was an amazing experience because I felt no more pain and felt free because I was no longer in my body. I thought I could go anywhere like this. Then, the thought occurred to me that if I remained separated from my body like this, that maybe I would die. At that same instant, I flew back into my body and woke up.
When I told this story, everybody shrieked and covered themselves in blankets, all freaked out. Hahaha!
That was the only time it ever happened, and I went on to live my life thinking that this body was me.
But what if there was an existence that could see, hear, feel, and even think, without this body? What if there was an existence that could live eternally, because it’s not a material thing, and what if that is my true self?
Wouldn’t that be liberating?
I wouldn’t be sick anymore because I’m not material anymore. Wouldn’t it be joyful to live like that?
Even while this body still remains, we would have no pain or burden if we knew this always-existing existence. With the mind of emptiness, we could see and hear everything as it is. This existence is what we call the Truth, and the true self is the self that has become one with the Truth. So far, we have only heard of or spoken about this existence, but there can be a time when we can become one with this existence, and live.
We think there’s a lot to do in this world and so we live busy lives, but our first priority is to find our true self – who am I? If we could live this way, every moment of our lives would be filled with joy and happiness. I’d like to share a video that might help you on the journey to finding your true self:
This is the best question I’ve seen so far in this subject on Quora. I you are a young person, or even if you’re not, listen up.
A person is defined by their words and their actions. Most people when they introduce themselves say their name and what they do for a living. Your name is a given. It is either chosen by you or was chosen by your parents at your birth. What you do for a living is what you spend most of your time doing. My father often says (in so many words) that we are what we repeatedly do. This is reflected in one’s mentality and understanding of the world- the way they relate to
This is the best question I’ve seen so far in this subject on Quora. I you are a young person, or even if you’re not, listen up.
A person is defined by their words and their actions. Most people when they introduce themselves say their name and what they do for a living. Your name is a given. It is either chosen by you or was chosen by your parents at your birth. What you do for a living is what you spend most of your time doing. My father often says (in so many words) that we are what we repeatedly do. This is reflected in one’s mentality and understanding of the world- the way they relate to the physical things in their life (for example an electrician has a completely different thought and action when they see a wire than a carpenter would) and also the way they relate to other people. In particular though, the things we do most often- including our profession are reflected in our personal appearance- whether we have weight on, how big we are, which of our muscles are well defined, whether we have a tan or not.
if someone asks you who you are, and asks for more information, you might be inclined to cite a political ideology (left or right, liberal or conservative) a favourite sports team, a chosen hobby, or other factors. In particular someone in a relationship might identify themselves as their partners girl or guy, the mother or father to their children, a provider or housewife.
There’s a subset of people who became so passionate and obsessive about a hobby that it became what they do, and that passion never leaves so when asked who they are they may call themselves an artist. It’s true of any profession though- there is an art in everything and the opportunity for excellence exists in anything you do.
By the way my Name is Joshua and I’m a Poet, Singer and Musician.
"What is the correct spelling... Iran or Iraq?"
Every human as an answer for this, they seldom stop to think if it’s the right answer.
We are born ignorant and gradually become aware of our body. This is obviously us at a young age and others are obviously their bodies.
As we grow we appreciate our mind’s existence but it’s just a part of us along with the body. Even most leading scientists in this field generally tend to think like this, so why should we disagree?
Over the ages philosophers have tried to go deeper.
Descartes said the well-known phrase “I think therefore I am.”
He was trying to establish what was real and his thought was that be
Every human as an answer for this, they seldom stop to think if it’s the right answer.
We are born ignorant and gradually become aware of our body. This is obviously us at a young age and others are obviously their bodies.
As we grow we appreciate our mind’s existence but it’s just a part of us along with the body. Even most leading scientists in this field generally tend to think like this, so why should we disagree?
Over the ages philosophers have tried to go deeper.
Descartes said the well-known phrase “I think therefore I am.”
He was trying to establish what was real and his thought was that because he can think he can be sure that he exists.
He could have said “I think therefore I think I am.” Or “I think therefore something thinks it is.” But he didn’t, at least not on record. But still knowing that something thinks (in Descartes’ analysis himself), doesn’t answer the question of who is doing the thinking.
It’s accepted science now that our body changes continuously and, over time, completely. If we are our body this is a problem because we know we were present as young child, and we still are now, but our child’s body isn’t.
So it’s impossible that we are the mass of material molecules that make up a body. They’ve gone, we haven’t.
If that’s out as a possibility, then the next level up is the mind.
“I am mind”, is a possible answer to who am I?
But then what is a mind? We can change our mind and still be the same person. We always think of having a mind, not being a mind.
My mind is made up. I’ve changed my mind. It went right out of my mind.
Clearly our mind is integral to us, but it’s ours, not us. It’s something we use, it’s something we can control (or not). What does it mean to say “I was in two minds…?” It means we were considering two options. Our mind was saying two different things. This one or that one? Should I do this or that? It’s something everyone experiences. Well, maybe not psychopaths, not sure how it works for them, but for everyone else we have all had the experience of choosing between options. We do it everyday, constantly.
So if the mind is throwing up the options, who is doing the deciding? Maybe the mind becomes fractured with each part assuming an identity and arguing it’s case among the other parts and then a consensus is reached? But a mind is not a gross physical object, can it be divided? Does a person split into multiple people when faced with multiple options, and then recombine into the original person again having resolved it? Does one part of the mind stay as the ‘mother mind’ while the kids argue over what to do? It sounds strange and unlikely.
And then it gets more complicated when the intelligence is added. Intelligence definitely has a voice when we are deciding issues. The intelligence tries to be rational, not swayed by the mind. Often the mind says what we want to do and the intelligence counters with what we should do. Calm and dispassionate the intelligence tries to present the logical, rational, ‘intelligent’ choice. It’s often in conflict with the mind. Our we the mind or are we the intelligence? Again, who is deciding between the two ‘voices’?
We are led to believe all this is going on in our brain. Brilliant and complex as the brain is, it’s still a lump of matter. Matter doesn’t have intelligence and doesn’t have a mind. These are not qualities of matter. No chunk of matter can be tested in a lab and demonstrated to have either intelligence or a mind. We can electrify it, bombard it with particles, subject it to waves of electronic signals and any other waves that are handy, but it will never display intelligence or a mind. It remains what it is, a chunk of unintelligent, mindless matter.
Ah, some say, mind and intelligence are emergent qualities of matter. Millions of neurons linked together in the circuits of the brain manifest consciousness, mind, intelligence, emotions etc. This is silly. Matter has no trace of these qualities anywhere in it. (Did you ever meet a happy brick)? Neurons don’t either. Electrically excitable cells don’t actually get excited. It’s a way of describing the change in membrane potential that is necessary for cellular responses in various tissues. They aren’t really excited about it and they don’t have intelligence and don’t have minds. Nor do brains. To propose that electrical impulses run through matter magically manifests intelligence and minds, what to speak of consciousness, is nonsense. This is not like creating a magnetic or electric field around an object, it’s something totally new and totally absent in it’s origin - matter.
The ever increasing sophistication of computers confuses people sometimes. Artificial intelligence and smart phones give the impression that they are similar to us but just not so upgraded. They are not. We are conscious, and no computer or phone, now or in the future, will ever be conscious despite a thousand science fiction movies presenting the opposite.
Yes, yes I know sophisticated devices can mimic human functions and responses, they appear to make decisions in response to stimuli, and initiate actions, just like a human being, but they are never aware that they are doing it. They have no idea what they are doing because they are not alive. Only living things know what they are doing (and then only some of the time).
This issue has wasted an incredible amount of time and energy. There seems no end to the speculation and theorizing. Emergentism, idealism, eliminative materialism, identity theories, neutral monism, panpsychism, substance dualism, property dualism, mental causation, vitalism, type physicalism also known as reductive materialism, type identity theory, mind–brain identity theory, and Lord knows what else.
The matter was settle 5,000 years ago by the master of all scientists Sri Krishna.
Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego -- all together these eight constitute My separated material energies. Bg 7.4
Besides these, O mighty-armed Arjuna, there is another, superior energy of Mine, which comprises the living entities who are exploiting the resources of this material, inferior nature. Bg 7.5
There. We are superior energy - not matter which is inferior. Why are we superior? Because we are alive. It’s hard not to feel superior to a dead body. We have bodies made of material elements which includes subtle matter like mind and intelligence. These form the bodies, gross and subtle, and we are the occupants. We use the material ingredients of the bodies to perform activities and experience the world.
Problem solved. This is who I am. A part of superior energy of Krishna living in a material body. So simple if only everyone was allowed to listen to the Master Scientist instead of the present day Masters of science.
Answering the question "who am I" can be like solving a riddle. We come to know the answer through self exploration, self awareness and identifying our multiple identities. While it’s an interesting journey, it’s also personal and can be tricky to answer.
The best answer to this question is usually a comeback such as “I am who I choose to be at every moment”, or "I am whoever I’m trying to become." It's important to have fun while you're answering this question and to remember that your answer will be constantly changing and evolving.
Answering the question "who am I" is a complex and personal question that can have many different answers depending on one's perspective. Some possible ways to answer this question include:
- Identifying yourself by your name, job, and/or other external characteristics.
- Describing your personality, values, and beliefs.
- Explaining your purpose or goals in life.
- Reflecting on your experiences and how they have shaped you.
- Exploring the philosophical or spiritual aspects of self-identity.
Ultimately, the answer to this question is unique to each individual and can change over time as one's perspective and experiences change. It is also a question that one might continue to explore and reflect on throughout their life.
I think the question of who you are requires you to describe your “personal uniqueness.”
for instance, this is what I would write about “who I am”
The question of "who I am" cannot be answered simply with a straightforward definition. My nature, personality, and life experiences have shaped me in numerous ways that will continue to shape me as I grow and evolve. When I reflect on myself and characterize myself, I come up with various aspects of myself. These characteristics are words that can fully describe me. The characteristics that come to mind are honesty, optimism, and disciplined.
I consid
I think the question of who you are requires you to describe your “personal uniqueness.”
for instance, this is what I would write about “who I am”
The question of "who I am" cannot be answered simply with a straightforward definition. My nature, personality, and life experiences have shaped me in numerous ways that will continue to shape me as I grow and evolve. When I reflect on myself and characterize myself, I come up with various aspects of myself. These characteristics are words that can fully describe me. The characteristics that come to mind are honesty, optimism, and disciplined.
I consider myself to be a very honest person. I have always been an honest person with myself and others. I never lie, cheat, or steal. I've been in situations where lying was the easy way out, but I chose to be honest instead. For example, there was this time when I accidentally left a store with an unpurchased candy bar. I could easily eat the stolen candy bar and move on with my life. After all, it's only a few bucks, and no one saw me take it. But I knew I hadn't paid for it, so it didn't belong to me. Rather than taking the easy way out and eating the candy bar, I returned to the store and paid for it. Although admitting my error was humiliating, I knew the candy wasn't mine to eat.
I am also a positive person. I am always upbeat and optimistic about the future. I usually work very hard and believe hard work is always rewarded. Regardless of the difficulties I have faced, I have always chosen to believe that "there is always tomorrow." This optimism has allowed me to appreciate what I have while striving for more. I'm the type of person who considers glass to be "half-full" rather than "half-empty."
Furthermore, I find myself to be a much more disciplined individual. I always exhibit a controlled form of behavior in all of my actions. I believe that my disciplined personality has helped me understand the importance of doing the right thing at the right time, allowing me to meet my goals. I believe that intelligence without discipline is useless; thus, discipline is more important than intelligence. Discipline, I believe, defines a person for who he or she is: "discipline creates behaviors, behaviors create routines, and routines become who you are daily."
januariswambua41@gmail.com, academic researcher and writer.
First I am a Christian and I am truthful. I am honest and hardworking. Plus I am a loyal person and I am your friend until you prove to me that you aren't honest, reliable, and trusting. If I am your employer you will be delighted that you hired me.
- I am a girl who is lover of psychology, writing poems and politics.
- I am a girl who prefers small gathering of besties more than clubbing or parties.
- I am a girl who writes to know herself better and to improve my skills.
- I am a girl who never leaves people once I hold their hand.
- I am a girl who is interested in studying, music and chatting more than anything.
- I am a girl with 0 crushes.
- I am a girl who simply ignores people until they cross a certain limit.
- I am a girl who knows cooking and other household chores.
- I am a girl who is her mummy`s bestfriend and father`s helping hand.
- I am a girl whom a
- I am a girl who is lover of psychology, writing poems and politics.
- I am a girl who prefers small gathering of besties more than clubbing or parties.
- I am a girl who writes to know herself better and to improve my skills.
- I am a girl who never leaves people once I hold their hand.
- I am a girl who is interested in studying, music and chatting more than anything.
- I am a girl with 0 crushes.
- I am a girl who simply ignores people until they cross a certain limit.
- I am a girl who knows cooking and other household chores.
- I am a girl who is her mummy`s bestfriend and father`s helping hand.
- I am a girl whom answers you read but never upvote.
- I am a girl whom you dont follow. 🤣 (emotional blackmailing)
- I am a girl who is pretty good at saying ‘NO’.
- I am a girl whose nor extrovert neither introvert. Everything depends on my mood.
- I am a girl who has a very thin temper.
- I am a girl who overthinks 85% of the time and thinks 15% of the time.
- I am a pomegranate lover.
- I am a girl who is cute mostly but gets furious easily.
- I am a bigg news junkie.
- I dont really like being in relationships and all…🙂
- I am a girl who is learning, growing and trying to get a better view of the society.
Question: What would be the best answer to “Who am I”?
Answer: I am me.
Myself and no one else.
I strive to discover myself, be true to myself, and live my life as the best ‘me’ that I can be.
I walk the path set before ‘me’.
I love myself. I also love God, and I love my neighbour as myself. Well - I try. All of these are difficult.
Hope this helps.
Firstly, is this a total stranger? Yes? Well, don’t answer! Just say, “I am a human just like you”. But how to answer this question?
Start off with “My name is …” and before they tell you there name continue by telling them what type of person you are, pro and con. Next, give them some things of which you like and don’t. Really, that is my way of introducing myself, but you are supposed to find a comfortable way for urself. Nobody can answer this question for u except u. Not everyone knows who you are
Doing a spiritual practice is like getting the mail on a cold day - you take the shortest route possible back to the house.
Self-inquiry is even more direct, as it questions your desire to go out in the first place.
You haven't got anything but junk since 1982, so why go out?
The Self is the Silence that precedes, follows, and subtends your mantra or breath.
Spiritual practices recognize your tendency to wander outside, so they prescribe a short and specific errand, after which you'll go straight back in.
Repeat.
Self-inquiry doesn't prescribe a short circuit, but it short-circuits the very process
Doing a spiritual practice is like getting the mail on a cold day - you take the shortest route possible back to the house.
Self-inquiry is even more direct, as it questions your desire to go out in the first place.
You haven't got anything but junk since 1982, so why go out?
The Self is the Silence that precedes, follows, and subtends your mantra or breath.
Spiritual practices recognize your tendency to wander outside, so they prescribe a short and specific errand, after which you'll go straight back in.
Repeat.
Self-inquiry doesn't prescribe a short circuit, but it short-circuits the very process of going out, by asking you to verify your errand with the person who asked you to do it: the “I.”
When you look for “I,” you can't find them.
You realize you have no reason to go out on their business, so you just stay home and keep quiet.
You answer it with Am I kind? Do I treat the weak and animals well? Am I cruel to my woman, do i beat her and treat her unkind? Do you give to charity even when it’s on a street corner lost and sick from using meth? Do you hate the taxes your wealth allows you to have stolen from you? Do you call it ‘stole’? Do you like the world? You don’t have to choose either or any answer, but your answer on all will tell you a lot about who you are. Hopefully you can decipher who you are by the choices you make. I threw taxes in there for a taste of the real world we live in. Jesus threw them in to. If they get left in wouldn’t that be something?
Who am I?" has no answer to it; it is unanswerable.
Your mind will supply many answers. Your mind will say, "You are the essence of life. You are the eternal soul. You are divine," and so on and so forth. All those answers have to be rejected: NETI NETI - one has to go on saying, "Neither this nor that."
When you have denied all the possible answers that the mind can supply and devise, when the question remains absolutely unanswerable, a miracle happens: suddenly the question also disappears. When all the answers have been rejected, the question has no props, no supports inside to stand on any m
Who am I?" has no answer to it; it is unanswerable.
Your mind will supply many answers. Your mind will say, "You are the essence of life. You are the eternal soul. You are divine," and so on and so forth. All those answers have to be rejected: NETI NETI - one has to go on saying, "Neither this nor that."
When you have denied all the possible answers that the mind can supply and devise, when the question remains absolutely unanswerable, a miracle happens: suddenly the question also disappears. When all the answers have been rejected, the question has no props, no supports inside to stand on any more. It simply flops, it collapses, it disappears.
When the question also has disappeared, then you know. But that knowing is not an answer:
it is an Existential experience .
“Why do people quote the question in their Quora answers when it is already displayed above each answer?”
Because it is not uncommon for ass-hats and Quora software (is that a redundancy?) to alter a question after a person has answered it. This results in an answer out of synch with the displayed question, which results in more ass-hats leaving stupid comments on the answer and also makes the answerer look like a fool.
Am like you carrying as a human being but my activities & nature vary than you.
The answer to the question "who am I" is complex and can be found in our identity, which is composed of memories, experiences, feelings, thoughts, relationships, and values[1]. To understand your identity better, look at your motivations[2]. Other ways to answer this question include referring to your possessions[3] or looking into psychology[4].
A2A. Do you know why words are needed? Because you think that’s what communication is - words.
A friend told me of a vision she had of Jesus, where he spoke to her so clearly and unambiguously. There was no possibility of misinterpretation. She reacted with tears. But she said he did not utter a singleword. And yet he communicated with her perfectly.
Communication in Reality is wordless, because we
A2A. Do you know why words are needed? Because you think that’s what communication is - words.
A friend told me of a vision she had of Jesus, where he spoke to her so clearly and unambiguously. There was no possibility of misinterpretation. She reacted with tears. But she said he did not utter a singleword. And yet he communicated with her perfectly.
Communication in Reality is wordless, because we are Spirit, and Spirit does not use any limited form of communication.
But is this your experience? No. It is outside of your awareness. You have built blocks against the awareness of Love, which is What you are. Rumi said, “Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” So, if you want to know Who or What you are, remove all the blocks to Love. Remove all your grievances, your grudges, your judgments, your condemnations. What’s left? Is there anything there but brilliantly shining happiness? Absolute pure and never touched by dreams of time?
You can ask yourself, “Who Am I?” as much as you want. But if you don’t do the work in your mind of restoring Truth to your awareness and dropping illusions by recognizing them as illusions, then you will simply not know your Self in direct experience. You will either draw a blank, because you cannot know what you have blocked f...
Well, you can try, but what you will find is ‘who you think you are’ keeps shifting and evolving in depth through your entire life time as long as you keep seeking for the answer.
When we come to realize that who we really are is multidimensional and beyond linear comprehension, we then become more willing to accept the totality of our being without being sidetracked by the characters we play as humans.
You can answer this question when you become one with the cosmic consciousness.
The answer of this question when Krishna said, “I am God.“
Image Source: Google
I walked in the forest yesterday and noticed a leaf on the ground. I picked it up, looked at it, admired it and dropped it on the ground. In weeks I cannot distinguish the leaf from the ground anymore.
Thinking ‘I’ is similar to seeing the leaf separate from the forest and the tree. Thinking ‘am’ is ignoring it’s past and it’s future.
When you know this, you pick up the leaf and see much more.
You see the leaf while it’s on the tree, you see it sprout on the tree, you see the tree before the leaf emerged. You see the tree emerge from the ground, you see it’s ancestor drop a seed.
You also see th
I walked in the forest yesterday and noticed a leaf on the ground. I picked it up, looked at it, admired it and dropped it on the ground. In weeks I cannot distinguish the leaf from the ground anymore.
Thinking ‘I’ is similar to seeing the leaf separate from the forest and the tree. Thinking ‘am’ is ignoring it’s past and it’s future.
When you know this, you pick up the leaf and see much more.
You see the leaf while it’s on the tree, you see it sprout on the tree, you see the tree before the leaf emerged. You see the tree emerge from the ground, you see it’s ancestor drop a seed.
You also see the leaf decompose, you see it become one with the ground, feeding new generations of trees.
You see rise, growing, ageing and death all at once.
The error you make when you see only the leaf: you look with your eyes. You think you know while you don’t.
The question “Who am I truly?” emerges from thinking. You use only thinking to examine the question. You forgot what you know. You forgot your parents who did not name you before they were born. You forget your funeral. You think that ‘am’ is all there is. You think that ‘I’ exists as a separate entity. You don’t see what’s there all along. Birth, growing, old age and death. It’s there, just not now.
Seeing this you pick up I, you examine it and you put it on the ground and leave it there. Why are you possessive of something that’s subject to change, something you cannot keep? And if you discover something that does not change, why would you call it mine? Do you really think it’s separate from everything else? Look again.
me personally, simple
I am what I do
I am what i say i am
It never occurred in you genuinely.
If you never arrived at this on your own, then you don’t have the key to open the sacred secret :)
Find your own genuine / original questions, even if they are wrong, it is okay.
Your original questions have the power to open what you need now/today.
Stay with your genuine innocence / ignorance.
Stay like a frog and grab only what is close to you, don’t move an inch.
Don’t put one little extra effort.
Don’t jump and wear a mask that doesn’t fit you or belong to you yet.
When you arrive, it won’t be a mask, it will be your true face.
I kind of have to fill in the blanks on your question for myself, because it's a little bit like asking "what's the number for 911" in its current form, right?
I think that you're asking how one goes about understanding who they are -- which is a lot harder than just saying the words "who am I?".
I think it helps if you have "tools" for dealing with this inquiry -- ideas that can help you slice-and-dice as you study the question. Meditation is an example of a tool for self-inquiry: you sit there alertly without distractions, trying to observe the activity of your own mind. There's lots of other tools too, I'm not going to offer a whole inventory here.
But I will say something about the general spirit of the process that I favor. I consider that the most powerful approach to self-inquiry is to presume that you are hunting for lies: falsehoods that you tell yourself about yourself or life. The reason to make "find the lies" a priority is because your ego is doing its best to prevent that from happening. So, if you want to understand the truth about yourself, you sort of have to push in the opposite direction: assume that your thoughts are a bunch of falsehoods, and see if you can figure out precisely in what ways you are misleading yourself.
In that process, if you come across something that is really true, of course that's wonderful. But I think most people who try this find far more self-deception than gems of perfection. That is really very good news, because nothing really starts to move until the untruths get exposed.
- Why is it called Quora?
The name Quora comes from the root word quorum, which represents many people coming together to accomplish a common goal.
- Why is it called Quora?
The name Quora comes from the root word quorum, which represents many people coming together to accomplish a common goal.
I would answer that it is simultaneously true that I am and am not. Defining yourself as something locks you into a set of qualities, traits, and habits that are associated with that identity. It is as important to have formlessness as it is to have form. Being something serves its purpose clearly, but you are much more than what you "think" you are.
How Astrology is typically used, for example; When they say I am a sign, then I must act, think and feel in alignment with the assigned qualities. This locks you into a set of fixed patterns, thus making it difficult when it is time to change.
The purpose of the question is to focus attention on I. Thus the purpose is not to find an intellectual answer, which can never satisfy myself, but to cultivate actual awareness of I.
My basic error - this applies to all humans until they awaken - is taking my body and mind to be I. This is what the dictionary means by self-awareness: Certain objects in my experience, such as certain thoughts, feelings, this body and mind, are taken as I who am reading this.
“Who am I" focuses awareness on I (subject) instead. Thus my attention is withdrawn from what I mistakenly take to be I. If I succeed compl
The purpose of the question is to focus attention on I. Thus the purpose is not to find an intellectual answer, which can never satisfy myself, but to cultivate actual awareness of I.
My basic error - this applies to all humans until they awaken - is taking my body and mind to be I. This is what the dictionary means by self-awareness: Certain objects in my experience, such as certain thoughts, feelings, this body and mind, are taken as I who am reading this.
“Who am I" focuses awareness on I (subject) instead. Thus my attention is withdrawn from what I mistakenly take to be I. If I succeed completely, even if only for an instant, then the ego (the dictionary version of self) collapses, revealing the real, divine, effulgent, deathless Self. This is neither subject nor object, but Self is all there is!
If you understand, you don't have to repeat “who am I?”. Just keep attention on you (subject) till it becomes habitual, natural and unconscious.
Who am I really?
Loy Machedo
Personal Branding Strategist
What’s my inner true self?
Normal average guy trying to earn his daily bread and butter while being happy.
Loy Machedo
The most used word in our life is probably “I”.
Most asked question in an interview is-
Tell me about yourself!
I for my part have always failed to even remotely understand this question.This seems such a simple and direct question to many.
But when I hear this, I want to ask “what part of me do you want to know about?”
Do you want to know the virtues that I carry or about the vices inside me,
the truth I speak or the lies I believe,
the song I play or the sound I feel,
the moments when I cry or the ones when I laugh,
do you want to know about my defeats or my victories,
do you want to know about the pa
The most used word in our life is probably “I”.
Most asked question in an interview is-
Tell me about yourself!
I for my part have always failed to even remotely understand this question.This seems such a simple and direct question to many.
But when I hear this, I want to ask “what part of me do you want to know about?”
Do you want to know the virtues that I carry or about the vices inside me,
the truth I speak or the lies I believe,
the song I play or the sound I feel,
the moments when I cry or the ones when I laugh,
do you want to know about my defeats or my victories,
do you want to know about the part I know about myself or the ones yet to explore,
Tell me what part do you want to know , then I will tell you about myself.
I will tell you there is no me,
that my past achievement , my educational records are all useless to me,
that humans in the past have spent their life overcoming this “I”,
I will tell you about the humanity that I represent,
About the civilizations that lies beneath us,
We are just a fragment of our history and shall remain so,
So before you ask this question,
ask your self first,
And if you can convince yourself with an answer then my friend
You are LOST!
Because you seem to be good at asking questions !
Rome was not built in a day. Never really worry about what people would think about your answer. Vent out your feelings by writing.
I am not a good writer at all. But i will write just so that the writing skill doesnt die out.
Start writing. I will read your answers today. Tomorrow thousands will.
Cheers.
As of 11/24/2017,
6582 answers: What are the most amazing photos you have ever taken?
4957 answers: What is something that needs to be said?
4904 answers: What are the best ways to lose weight?
4149 answers: How can I become fluent in English?
3753 answers: What can I learn right now in just 10 minutes that could be useful for the rest of my life?
3359 answers: What are the most interesting facts you know?
2793 answers: What's your lame superpower?
2578 answers: Jokes: What are some dumb questions you have been asked?
Who am I, why am I living here, and where will I go after I die?
These are the three fundamental questions about life that I always thought of. I think the question, who am I, was the heaviest on my mind. Who am I, what is this me? When someone calls my name, I look back and think, is this name me? What is it that defines me? My body changes over time, and my mind changes like the tides as well. Even something that I was so sure about in the morning can change in the afternoon depending on circumstances. If you look at the sky, clouds flow in the sky, the clouds' shapes vary, and clouds float i
Who am I, why am I living here, and where will I go after I die?
These are the three fundamental questions about life that I always thought of. I think the question, who am I, was the heaviest on my mind. Who am I, what is this me? When someone calls my name, I look back and think, is this name me? What is it that defines me? My body changes over time, and my mind changes like the tides as well. Even something that I was so sure about in the morning can change in the afternoon depending on circumstances. If you look at the sky, clouds flow in the sky, the clouds' shapes vary, and clouds float in the wind. Everything in the world changes just as the sky changes. But is there something constant and eternal existence in the world?
I was good at singing when I was very young, like before elementary school. I was able to learn songs from the radio. When I listened only once or twice, I could memorize the song lyrics. My family and neighbors around me complimented me for singing well. I enjoyed listening to talent shows on the radio, especially when children sang. I wished I could join the competition and I envied the children who won the awards. I always told myself that I should have been that kid. I'm just a poor kid who sings well, and I felt it was unfair that my parents couldn't support me to be a great singer.
In school, I was usually asked to sing in front of my classmates. And I used to sing in front of so many crowds whenever the school had special events. Many teachers and classmates told me that I should be on TV with such talent. Whenever I sang, I was so happy and joyful, and I felt like I was the best. As I grew up, I wanted to take vocal lessons and study music more deeply. But I was the oldest child in a low-income family, and I couldn't fulfill my dream. I didn't have a chance to get a proper music education.
I had to give up my dream, and I went to the regular high school. Around that time, I worked hard at the church, and there was a high school choir competition that other churches also participated in. I participated as a representative of our church, and after school, I went to church and practiced hard.
There was a granddaughter of my pastor in the church. She was around my age, and she was taking lessons to major in vocal music. She also participated in the same contest that I was joining. The day of the competition had come, and all the participants had finished singing. Only the awards ceremony remained. I heard the third and second prize winners, but my name was not there. My heart was beating so loud. I believed that there was no way that I would not get any award at all. I thought I was the winner. When they announced the final winner's name, I got up and went forward without realizing it, and I received the prize. I could not hear anything in my ears. When I came back to my seat, I found that the final winner was not me but my pastor's granddaughter.
I was so embarrassed for what I had done and kept on blaming myself for doing that. I couldn't leave the place until everyone else left for the shame. That night, I cried all night long. What happened that night made me sad for a long time and filled with guilt and shame. That event remained in my subconscious for a long time. My head kept on screaming, "why did I do that?" "How could you be such a fool?" I couldn't stop being upset with myself. I hated myself so much.
When I got older, one day, I saw an excerpt from a book, "People don't see what they see, they see what they want to see. They listen to what they want to hear.” After seeing that, I was able to understand why I did what I did. My ego and pride saying that I should always be better than others made me believe that I was in the 1st place. My body moved subconsciously to receive the award. The name I thought I heard was not real, but my mind made a fake voice. I was terrified that what I saw, heard, felt, and said could not be true but could be distorted information. What I created in my head could feel more real than reality.
When I found out that it is an illusion that I have created, I started to ask myself deep questions like: "What is my purpose in life?" "What is true and what is false?" People mistakenly believe that they are right. Two people can have different interpretations of the same thing even within the same space and time, and I was like that. I wanted to find the answers to these questions. That time was the start of my quest for finding the true meaning of life.
Among several attempts to find answers to my questions, I finally found some light. My friend introduced me to meditation. Meditation was a way to reflect on me and let go of all the illusory minds to find out who I truly am. I wanted to find the answers to "Who I am?" "How good or bad I have lived?" After looking back on myself and clearing out the illusions I held in my mind, I gradually found the answers. What I realized from the meditation is the following.
- Since I was born into this world, I accumulated pictures of all my experiences. So, I was not living in the real world but the world of those pictures.
- And I had lived holding regret and shame from the past. But, after I let go of those pictures that were the cause of my shame, I could forgive myself.
- Now, I don't hold on to the past, so I am always in the present. All my curiosity about myself and life has resolved entirely.
- All I have to do is focus on now and do my best in whatever I do.
The more I abandoned the self that I hated so much, the more I became free and happy. After the meditation session, I could breathe more freely. Gradually I became a new person after I had realized that I had lived with misconceptions of who I was.
I was so thankful; I became a person that is true and happy. While meditating, the true me appeared, and the false me disappeared. It became so clear that I had finally become my true self and could see that this true self is a never-changing and eternal existence. I shed tears of gratitude during meditation. Now the journey to find the true me is over; my quest has been accomplished. I wish everyone could feel the same appreciation that I got from throwing away the false self and finding the true self.
Finally, I would like to share this video clip, and I think you will like it. Thank you for reading my answer. :)
I am that.
You are that.
This is that.
And that is all there is.
The core teaching of Advaita Vedanta.
How?
Who am I?
कोऽहम् ?
The Indian sages have been asking this question since the time immemorial. This question finds an elaborate discussion in the Vedic philosophy.
Now, who am I?
Am I ……
(1) The Body?
(2) The Mind??
(3) The Soul???
Out of the above three entities which one is my real self? Or am I the combination of all the three?
The Upanisads seek to answer this question in various ways.
सो ऽहम् - I am that, says the Upanisad. By ‘that’ it means: I am the Atman i.e, soul. Now can the soul exist without the structural support also of (a) Body and (2) Mind?
No.
All the three elements of (a) Body (b) Mind a
Who am I?
कोऽहम् ?
The Indian sages have been asking this question since the time immemorial. This question finds an elaborate discussion in the Vedic philosophy.
Now, who am I?
Am I ……
(1) The Body?
(2) The Mind??
(3) The Soul???
Out of the above three entities which one is my real self? Or am I the combination of all the three?
The Upanisads seek to answer this question in various ways.
सो ऽहम् - I am that, says the Upanisad. By ‘that’ it means: I am the Atman i.e, soul. Now can the soul exist without the structural support also of (a) Body and (2) Mind?
No.
All the three elements of (a) Body (b) Mind and (3) Soul are central to my identity as a human being. All the three are the essential elements of my being what I am today. If any one of them is lost then I cease to exist in my present form.
So my humble answer to the question is: I am a combination of all the three elements of Body, Mind and Soul.
1.Which letter is silent in ‘Scent’ C or S?
2. Hey twins. Do you ever realize one of you was unplanned?
3. Wasn’t just a letter Q enough for Queue?
4. Why does your nose run and your feet smell?
5. Why does most of the junk food taste good but not healthy food?
6. If we’re related to chimpanzees and bonobos, why didn’t they evolve with us, too?
7. If anything is possible, is it possible to be something impossible?
8. If you're yawning, does the deaf person takes you to be screaming?
9. If drink and drive isn't allowed why do bars and clubs have parking lots?
10.If pro and con are opposites, wouldn't the opposite of progress be…..
I have purused other “who am I” answers and what comes to me as obvious does not to others. It's hard to locate just where is this I that I am? I don't intend to be morbid, but strange how it is that losing a part of my body won't make me less insofar as being there.
This is the only difficulty I can see. Knowing myself is something other than knowing I am. Self-seeing, self-reflecting without distorting what is seen in the mirror, is filled with difficulty, relaxing in a pure state of I-ness is necessary for mirroring.
Life can be lived in a bad mood or without meaning because it has an end. Li
I have purused other “who am I” answers and what comes to me as obvious does not to others. It's hard to locate just where is this I that I am? I don't intend to be morbid, but strange how it is that losing a part of my body won't make me less insofar as being there.
This is the only difficulty I can see. Knowing myself is something other than knowing I am. Self-seeing, self-reflecting without distorting what is seen in the mirror, is filled with difficulty, relaxing in a pure state of I-ness is necessary for mirroring.
Life can be lived in a bad mood or without meaning because it has an end. Living long requires the willingness to believe one will be ready for death when it comes. Take away the poetry of life, and one can never be ready. Put the microscope of reason away and be grateful your life happened. Slowly through your life forget your name and at death just be the “I”.
An amalgamation of fleeting moments, never to intertwine quite the same way again.
You can find out for yourself.
I don’t know if philosophy can answer that for you.
But I am pretty sure that you can find out for yourself who you are.
Let’s bring in a different perspective.
Many authors as well as spiritual teachings present the idea of the two minds.
These are the thinking mind and the observing mind.
While the thinking mind produces all the thoughts in your head, the observing mind is responsible for the feeling of being “You” as it watches the thoughts in your head.
This idea goes hand in hand with several other teachings, such as Eckhart Tolle’s idea of the mind as a tool on the one hand and the observer, the silent watcher or the true You, on the other hand.
How can you use this to understand what defines the “I”?
By having the realization that the emotions you feel and the thoughts you have are produced by the thinking mind.
The key is that these emotions and thoughts can be observed by You or the “I”, which is the observing mind or the silent watcher.
You can practice becoming aware of this realization during meditation, where you essentially recognize, observe and acknowledge thoughts.
This dualist position, You on the one side, your thoughts and emotions on the other side, in a relationship only through observation, allows for the powerful disidentification from your thoughts and emotions.
You are not your thoughts. You are not your emotions. You rather have thoughts in your head. You rather feel negative emotions arising.
By observing instead of identifying with these thoughts and emotions, you create a distance between them and You, as the silent watcher. As they thrive on identification, they lose all their energy due to the created distance via disidentification.
This realization grants incredible power. You can now, in any situation, feel and recognize negative thoughts and emotions, observe them and by not identifying with them, remove all their power over you.
But not only that.
You realize who you really are.
The silent watcher. The awareness in the background.
That is the true “You” or “I”.
So what are we then?
Pure consciousness, awareness, energy.
We only lose touch with that when we identify with our thoughts, emotions, beliefs and identity, which can be summarized as the ego, the mind-projected identity which clouds who we really are.
Side Note For The Rational Sceptic
The field of consciousness is still to be researched and explained. There are many theories but hardly anything has been proven yet. Mark Manson summarizes it nicely when he writes:
“There is a lot of data. And that data is being debated.”
So as with most believes one can have, ask yourself:
What is more important? The objective truth or the subjective belief that can help me in my daily living?
Sometimes it doesn’t matter whether what you believe is right or wrong, but whether it is helpful.
Realizing through your subjective experience, that you are not your disturbing thoughts, but rather pure consciousness, is what gives you incredible bliss and allows you to be totally at peace.
Hope that helps,
Kilian
I write more here.
Learn more about my work and mission by visiting my Quora profile here.
If these ideas resonated with you, let me know your thoughts in a quick comment below. My goal is to provide meaningful content and food for thought and I highly appreciate your feedback and help.
Footnotes
Well Wade, apparently you answer some questions concerning Anime and Dragon Ball Z.
Whatever that means, you have answered questions on these topics and your profile indicates you know something about them.
Apparently, some people find these topics interesting and therefore asking you about them makes sense.
Now, here's what I'm puzzled about:
Having looked at your profile, I saw that you you've written this in your profile description:
"What's up?
I'm here to answer & ask stuff."
So :
1. Good! You're in the right place for both.
Answering and asking stuff is what we do here.
2. In light of thi
Well Wade, apparently you answer some questions concerning Anime and Dragon Ball Z.
Whatever that means, you have answered questions on these topics and your profile indicates you know something about them.
Apparently, some people find these topics interesting and therefore asking you about them makes sense.
Now, here's what I'm puzzled about:
Having looked at your profile, I saw that you you've written this in your profile description:
"What's up?
I'm here to answer & ask stuff."
So :
1. Good! You're in the right place for both.
Answering and asking stuff is what we do here.
2. In light of this profile description your question is very very odd.
Granted, not the most odd thing I've ever seen:
But very odd.
"Who are you"? Is this the hardest question to answer?
Yes, indeed!
What am I? This question set an otherwise a common young boy on a soul searching path for the answer! When he emerged after finding the truth is even now known to many of us as one of the greater Saints who Blessed our lives till 1950. He was Bhagavan Sri Ramana MaharshiMaharshi whose Ashram is there in Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu.
So, Yes, it is difficult. If only we do that soul searching all the time, this world will be a totally different place to live in, away from the demons of religious extremism rocking the world!
Jamie, yes, I will be teaching the Intro to Mobile Advertising class. The Course initials are (MAD) - not necessarily a reflection of my state of mind ! :)
If your arm were removed, you would be different, but arguably, the essential you would be you. Your spleen and lung can be removed, same result. Your heart transplanted, generally same result. That is, you are still you.
The same, however, cannot be said for your brain. Severely damage it, remove it, transplant it, and the entity known as you is no longer. You may not be your brain, but the identity known as you is inextricably a function of that mysterious, wondrous organ known as your brain.
The best way to answer the question — ‘Who am I?’, is to start with the question — ‘Who am I not?’ In the scriptures, it is taught to us with the question Koham- who am I? And then we move on to Neti Neti- I am not this body, I am not this mind, Tat Twam Asi- I am that. That means I am that Divine spirit, the Soul, the Spark Of Unique Life. We have to drop the ego that says I, we have to drop the mind that we can never find. We have to realize that we are not this body that will die. We are that Spark Of Unique Life, that Soul that came alive nine months before our so-called birthday. That is the beginning of our journey of enlightenment — to realize I am not I, I am the Divine Soul.
The question "who am I?" is a complex and deeply personal one, and there is no single answer that applies to everyone. However, here are some suggestions to help you answer the question for yourself:
- Consider your values and beliefs: Who you are is often shaped by your values and beliefs. Take some time to reflect on what is most important to you, what you stand for, and what you believe in. This can help you understand your identity and what makes you unique.
- Reflect on your experiences: Your experiences, both positive and negative, can shape who you are. Think about the people, events, and cha
The question "who am I?" is a complex and deeply personal one, and there is no single answer that applies to everyone. However, here are some suggestions to help you answer the question for yourself:
- Consider your values and beliefs: Who you are is often shaped by your values and beliefs. Take some time to reflect on what is most important to you, what you stand for, and what you believe in. This can help you understand your identity and what makes you unique.
- Reflect on your experiences: Your experiences, both positive and negative, can shape who you are. Think about the people, events, and challenges that have influenced you and how they have impacted your personality, goals, and outlook on life.
- Consider your relationships: Your relationships with family, friends, colleagues, and others can also shape who you are. Think about the roles you play in these relationships and how they contribute to your identity.
- Identify your strengths and weaknesses: Understanding your strengths and weaknesses can help you define who you are. Consider your skills, talents, and areas of expertise, as well as areas where you may struggle or need improvement.
- Embrace your unique qualities: No one is exactly like you, and embracing your unique qualities can help you answer the question "who am I?" with confidence. Whether it's a quirky sense of humor, a particular talent, or a distinctive personality trait, recognizing and celebrating what makes you different can help you define your identity.
Remember that the question "who am I?" is a complex and ongoing process of self-discovery, and there is no one-size-fits-all answer. Your identity may change over time as you continue to grow and evolve, and that is a natural part of the human experience.
By knowing for certain who you wanna be, knowing that answers the question for its self
So, one day the Shah of Iran decided to gather up his horsemen and soldiers to go for a ride in the forest. By and by they came to a place where an old man was just sitting there minding his own business. As the procession was passing him by, the Shah noticed he did not jump up and salute, or bow, or prostrate himself so the Shah drew up beside the old man, still seated and asked him, Who are you? and the old man said, Nobody. The Shah said, Do you know who I am? and the old man said, You are the Shah of Iran. The Shah said, One last question before I have your head cut off, Who is higher than me? And the old man said, Nobody. And the Shah said, That’s right, Nobody is higher than me. And the old man said, I am that nobody who is higher than you.
The Shah told his captain to order one horseman to dismount and let the old man ride that horse, and the Shah took the old man back to the palace and installed him as his top advisor (Vazir).
When you ask, Who am I, the answer is, Nobody. When you are nobody, then you are something real. When you are somebody, you are nobody at all.
I am a Book
You’re not an avid reader you say
Books manage to bore you and you’d rather watch the movies
But that Sunday you saw me and walked right through
I’m sure you resembled my protagonist for you were lonely.
But she’s a female, unlike you, so her limitations would be confined to the word ‘homely’.
You picked me up from the table where I was left by the reader before you, read incomplete.
He managed to read me only halfway through, was not a reader either, you see,
Head above the clouds, he was lavish of oaths unfurnished.
.
That Monday you said that this public library wasn’t where I belonged
Tha
I am a Book
You’re not an avid reader you say
Books manage to bore you and you’d rather watch the movies
But that Sunday you saw me and walked right through
I’m sure you resembled my protagonist for you were lonely.
But she’s a female, unlike you, so her limitations would be confined to the word ‘homely’.
You picked me up from the table where I was left by the reader before you, read incomplete.
He managed to read me only halfway through, was not a reader either, you see,
Head above the clouds, he was lavish of oaths unfurnished.
.
That Monday you said that this public library wasn’t where I belonged
That he left me at the wrong place and didn’t treat me right
These shelves with hand me down books, older and unattractive editions
The chairs occupied by the vicious readers wanting to devour me full.
So you took me home to for a safer and better space,
Gave me a special place in your personal collection,
Right beside your mother’s Classics-
Jane Austen to my right and Dorian Grey beside me
Glimpses of what we were going to share together;
Inner wrist kisses and unsubdued confrontations-
On that middle shelf I would be visible just as you enter the room.
Did my cover allure you so?
I know it’s fancy and new despite getting torn
The letters curvy with sparkles- Untitled.
But I could be your mirror, you see
A reflection of what you would want to be.
.
On Tuesday, You dusted my cover and started binding the pages
That had been pulled apart with reckless opening,
A clear indication of mishandling by those many readers who chose not to see beneath my paper surface
You ran your fingers down my broken spine
Gently because you did not want to break me further
My pages felt new and whitewashed, my ink blackened.
It felt nice to be seen, taken care of and mended.
That first day, my prologue made you all kinds of intrigued
So you vowed to read me fast and whole.
.
By Wednesday you were amazed at how difficult it was to open up my pages
I am a difficult read, I know.
My paragraphs parallel, sentences deep and words allegoric.
No wonder your Bronte sisters were not touched and unread
But you had those light fictions those weren’t glad to have me on your shelf.
My depth could be contagious but have I already grown on you?
Your closet full of neon and I could hear you looking for button-ups.
Your drawers full of guns that you now wouldn’t need
For I could help you fight the battle empty handed and you’d still win your beloved’s heart
Wondering why you had restricted beauty only to my covers at first?
Reducing me to a face and body not venturing into my soul and Mind
Normalcy is a facade, you see, and you start to detest it too by now.
I do tend to have that influence on mortals of your kind
.
Then on Thursday you started getting bored reading my longer chapters
Expecting only glitters you didn’t want to see these dull pages within-
those that oozed darkness that would engulf you wholly
You tried to figure out all the whys and how’s of
My unruly inner monologues and delusive dialogues
You had the strong urge to shut me close, your patience was running out.
But you wouldn’t put me in that box
I would’ve put fire to your entire memory-
That box made of doom and pained black with desperation
The one that you called ‘past’- never to be opened again
My pages cannot be contained in a place like that you see,
I like to drip my honey words to sweeten up your kisses
.
On Friday you left me lying on your table
Dog eared and smoke stained
Your boys coming over boasting about their female accomplishments
Some beer and video games later, realization dawned.
But now you like your whiskey alone in your room, sometimes with me.
A change of fancies and bearing of old fantasies
So you picked me up and read me again.
By now you like the smell of old books; the musky biblichor, vanilla and forests
You like the feel of my old soul too.
Then I finally let you read the pages which had hidden how human I am
Telling you of my insecurities and demons, misinterpretations that let the lovers before you take me for granted, leaving me unfinished and half read,
Questions of my worth and purpose with the answers of self hate and giving up
Now you can comprehend the other characters and write your own book too.
And for that, I wish you only the best
.
This Saturday, you will be closing me, once and for all
My careful words and stories inked deep onto you,
You’ll leave me back at the public library
Exposing all my demons and handing me down to the thirsty readers
hoping they get quenched by my prose and poetry of experience.
You saw a lot of yourself in me by Friday didn’t you?
Reflecting your inner, neglected child and that’s my offer of help-
Providing you with the solace that you very silently seek
So much for being a ‘man’
You almost cannot breathe smoothly by now and I’m choking you with every line
My naive words were carefully constructed to do so.
Unlike the lies woven by your kind to please hearts like yours with brains that do not think.
Your private shelf is not where I belong forever,
I need my sentences read and silence heard.
Since you know of my deafening screams, you’ll place me at the top shelf
right beside the classics, just because of what we had
.
~the Nora
Socrates: Where are you?
Dan Millman: Here.
Socrates: What time is it?
Dan Millman: Now.
Socrates: What are you ?
Dan Millman: This moment.
Lines from Peaceful Warrior.
I'm this Moment. I'm someone and No one , somebody and nobody. Maybe this poem will help you understand it.
Dunno if it is the best answer - but here a little story:
“There was once a seeker who approached a Sage and said, “Master, have you seen God?” And the Sage asked him, “Why do you want to know?” The seeker said, “If you have seen God, you can give me his darshan, allow me to see him also. The Sage said, “Before I give you God’s darshan I have to introduce you to the Lord. Pray, and tell me who are you?” And the seeker puffed himself up and said, “Why I am John Brown. The Sage said, “John Brown was the name that was given at birth. Tell me who you really are. Who are you?” The seeker said, “I told you sir, I am John Brown, I am a Catholic.” The Sage laughed and he said, “Your name, your religion, those were given to you at birth. You are not that, tell me who you are?” The seeker was becoming flabbergasted, he said, “I am an architect.” The Sage laughed again and said, “You went to school to be an architect, this is your profession. But I want you to tell me who you are right now so that I can give you the darshan of God.” At this time the seeker was very nervous. And he said, “I am, I am a man!” Again, the Sage laughed, “Obviously so, but this is your gender. Who are you really? Who are you tell me?” The seeker was really upset now. He was crying and he said, “I am a part of the family of human beings of mankind. Again, the Sage laughed and he said, “This is your genus.” But he looked at the seeker and he had a great compassion and decided to give him a teaching. He said to the seeker, “You have such little knowledge of who you are. How can you possibly know who God is? First know thyself. Know who you are. Then you will not have to ask anyone for the darshan of God. You will know it yourself.”
— Robert Adams, T121: You Have To Desire Freedom
Because in the end we are only THIS:
Happy Travels!
Basically, the answer reduces to researches regarding the concept of “self”.
This can involve researches in theology, philosophy, science, and law.
Morover, it is sometimes the case that people are drawn to researches in
New Age literature, which is unfortunate, for that realm is a quagmire of misinformation and manipulation of thought.
The researches of self involve researches of thought itself, which is the realm of questions and answers and thinking about all forms of dialogue in the context of reason but also in the context of the forms of thinking and persuasion which are sometimes found to b
Basically, the answer reduces to researches regarding the concept of “self”.
This can involve researches in theology, philosophy, science, and law.
Morover, it is sometimes the case that people are drawn to researches in
New Age literature, which is unfortunate, for that realm is a quagmire of misinformation and manipulation of thought.
The researches of self involve researches of thought itself, which is the realm of questions and answers and thinking about all forms of dialogue in the context of reason but also in the context of the forms of thinking and persuasion which are sometimes found to be manipulation of the mind and the thinking that people are guided to adopt. However, some things are familiar to those who have studied the issue of self and can be offered in the interest of guiding the steps of others in the efforts to distinguish what is true, from what is false.
(A) In science, there is no “self”. In the early decades of the 21st Century, some of the more vocal scientists insist that you are nothing more than a “robot vehicle” which refers to a kind of biological “machine” related to the category of organism called primates. So if you are searching in any of the sciences for a self, you should recognize at the beginning that no textbooks explaining human anatomy or physiology identify a “self” in the body.
(B) In the realm of philosophy, are some correspondences with theology. These 2 knowledge domains do address some supernatural considerations such as the ideas of soul, spirit, mind, consciousness, and self. [Science has no definition for “consciousness” by the way. Philosophy however, is a distinct way of thinking about what exists and what does not exist, and this method is itself, distinct in some ways from the various theologies corresponding with the several different world religions.
(C) The concept of an “I” in the world’s religions is addressed in accordance with the basic doctrines of each religion in a different way.
(D) Systems of law are different in the nations of the world. So to contribute to your understanding in regard to the “self” in the context of law, or what is called Jurisprudence, I can show you some material online about the subject.
.
Frequently, I remind people that one of the better “shortcuts” in critical thinking about such subjects is the exploration of a very ancient subject commonly called The Mind/Body Problem or MBP.
.
.
Summary:
Generally, all of the pronouns such as I, you, me, we, mine, they, them, everyone, and anyone, and nobody are problematic in the knowledge domains as they refer to an individual “self” as well as plural selves and so forth and so on..
I honestly don't think there's a good answer to this question, Ram. It also depends on whether or not you are seeing yourself through your own lens or relying on other people's perceptions of you. None will be accurate.
You are different things to different people. Some will think you are a friend, some will see you as your accomplishments. Some will see you as that random guy on the bus that always wears the same pants, or whatever.
How do you see yourself? Are you forgetful? Insightful? Funny? Introverted? Helpful? Angry? Happy? In love? Religious? Math freak? Gardening genius? etc? Maybe ma
I honestly don't think there's a good answer to this question, Ram. It also depends on whether or not you are seeing yourself through your own lens or relying on other people's perceptions of you. None will be accurate.
You are different things to different people. Some will think you are a friend, some will see you as your accomplishments. Some will see you as that random guy on the bus that always wears the same pants, or whatever.
How do you see yourself? Are you forgetful? Insightful? Funny? Introverted? Helpful? Angry? Happy? In love? Religious? Math freak? Gardening genius? etc? Maybe make a long list of your skills and traits. Set a timer for 10 minutes and GO! You'll be surprised at what pops out.
As far as why you are are here and why you have to die... you are here because of your parents. That's it. Do with it what you would like. There's no deep meaning as far as I can tell. I'm just one of billions that have lived and so are you.
You have to die because that's what happens. It's a good thing too. Think of how monotonous even the funnest thing would become if we lived forever. It would suck. Even food would be boring. Heck, after almost 40 years of eating, I'm almost sick of food already! Also, the population of every animal that never died would be absolutely nuts. We'd be immortal, crowded and in misery. Be absolutely thankful for death.
Overall, we're humans. You're a mammal; an ape with no fur. You think and feel because your brain is a highly evolved organ that ended up thinking and feeling so that you could survive.
So, after you read your answers, go stand naked in front of the mirror and examine every part of you. You are ordinary but also extraordinary at the same time. Imagine your skeleton, muscles and circulatory system too. Might as well not stop at what you can see on the outside. Enjoy every part of you. Then go about your day. Make it a good one!
You are You.
Insert Victory & Cheering Noises here.
At first this may sound incredibly cliché but the thing is that this is really the best way to answer the question.
We often like to answer this question when others pose it by generalizing who we are.
We list of characteristics, explain our job description or describe what our favorite activities are, such as going hiking, hitting the gym or being someone that likes massages.
The thing is, that that does not even begin to scratch the surface of who we are.
Depending on the situation, our mood and our intention we change who we are in a heartbeat.
We might be a teacher to some, a student to others, a son, daughter, coach, engineer, swimmer, athlete, a runner, couch potato, a movie junkie, movie critic, high performer, artist, musician…
And we could say the same thing about our personality.
We are nice, caring, giving, humble, smart, loving, kind, courageous, creative, powerful, and at other times, or to other people, selfish, arrogant, mean, dumb, careless, cowardly or weak.
We are all of these things, not all at once, but all are a part of who are.
Each of these parts has a different weight, but ultimately the combination of all of them is what makes us who we are.
Trying to explain this to someone, even yourself, is going to be hard and it is going to be a long process.
If I had to tell you everything you were I’d be sitting here all year and would still not be done because there are so many facets to you at any given point in time.
All of this, however, falls under one single description: You are You.
That definition is something that is more fluid than solid, something that changes from moment to moment and ...
To best answer a question like “who am I?” requires a response from an external source…to provide a reference point for self-scrutiny. For me, I best understand who I am from what is said by God, my Creator. I read many descriptions of who I am…my relationship with God; why I am here; who am I…that is, am I only a physical/ emotional being, or is part of me spiritual? God’s Word tells me I am “made in His image”. That means I have elements of God’s mind, will and character within me, for example- creativity; abstract reasoning skill; capacity to forgive and sacrifice; awareness of right and wr
To best answer a question like “who am I?” requires a response from an external source…to provide a reference point for self-scrutiny. For me, I best understand who I am from what is said by God, my Creator. I read many descriptions of who I am…my relationship with God; why I am here; who am I…that is, am I only a physical/ emotional being, or is part of me spiritual? God’s Word tells me I am “made in His image”. That means I have elements of God’s mind, will and character within me, for example- creativity; abstract reasoning skill; capacity to forgive and sacrifice; awareness of right and wrong (morality); awareness of past, present and future; ability to plan, and awareness of spirituality as part of existence.
Underpinning any thoughts on “who am I?” …for me, it is the joy of knowing I am a child of God, enjoying a restored relationship with my Creator. As God’s Word informs me - “But to all who have received him--those who believe in his name--he has given the right to become God's children … “ (John 1:12).
GOD
How do you describe “I”?.
If this “I”, is constantly changing, then everything you, feel experience becomes relative. If one says one is their body, which has been changing through years, so every experience becomes only relative. And one’s mind is conditioned by their past, so when one says they are their mind, which is only relative to their past, and which is relative.
What is that, which is absolute, unchanging, unconditional part of your experience—this is real “I”.
In my opinion, it just depends on you. But for me there is not an exact answer to this question that we can know. Because we can't know why we are here, what we are really coming from, what the connections between us, universe, everything and nothing, every single moment in our lives, all the mistakes, all the ideas, the good and the bad, the decisions and the people surrounding us’s lives are, properly. If we can't know those things, we can't have a proper answer to define who we really are. We only know our names and a little bit about ourselves not our whole story sorry. So since there is no one to answer at least for now, I am going to ask this question again even though I can't have a reply. My life is based on that one question what wakes me up every morning to figure it out a bit more, to discover, to believe in my dreams and have a spirit to live and find myself. Indeed Getting the answers doesn't matter, instead asking the questions really matters in my life. As I said before although I can't ever find an answer exactly, this makes me happy all the time. Hey that's why I am now asking, WHO AM I? And you, WHO ARE YOU ? Try to ask yourself this everyday, it will lead you to your purposes and maybe eventually to a piece of truth one day. Who knows?
We create our own individual reality which has some semblance to true reality.
We also choose beliefs to guide our thinking and behaving in life….and some or most of those are inappropriate as well.
Here’s how that choosing works, IMO:
We are life forms and all life forms are inherantly and relentlessly driven to survive, thrive and multiply/grow. This is our purely animal nature.
Some individuals embrace goodness** in their PTBs and some do not.
I think that what I shared above helps to explain what you asked in your question.
I hope this help
We create our own individual reality which has some semblance to true reality.
We also choose beliefs to guide our thinking and behaving in life….and some or most of those are inappropriate as well.
Here’s how that choosing works, IMO:
We are life forms and all life forms are inherantly and relentlessly driven to survive, thrive and multiply/grow. This is our purely animal nature.
Some individuals embrace goodness** in their PTBs and some do not.
I think that what I shared above helps to explain what you asked in your question.
I hope this helps.
=====
*: By age 13, each of us has selected PTBs and practiced them over many years….(and rejected other patterns).
From age 14 to 20, we all then go through an involuntary hormone driven (physiological) reinforcing and pruning process in the neural pathways in our brain’s frontal cortex.
That locks those preferred and practiced patterns into us….we become them, they become us and we keep using them. We can be guided by goodness** or not…that is our choice.
So IMO, virtually all our patterns of thinking+behaving were chosen and practiced by us prior to age 13….and we then continue to use those throughout our life.
We can change them later but it is extremely difficult and often requires some type of traumatic realization/event.
=====
**: our yearning for and then practicing goodness is what transforms us into the state of being and remaining a healthy human (not remaining the animal we are all born as). Goodness being the mix of these:
Transcendent love: a free gift of hoping for the virtuous betterment of the inner child-chooser within ourselves and others. It is unconditional with no expectations in return and frees us and others of our fears so we can gain confidence, understanding and skill without being angry or defensive.
Virtue: truthful, wise, logical, prudent, fearless, trustworthy, praiseworthy, self-restraint, lacking corruption, forgiving, organized, clean, caring, principled, wisely generous, humble, courageous.
Wisdom: allows us to avoid traps and guides us to success using accumulated insights into what works and what doesn’t work in life and relationships.
=====
And finding and maintaining ongoing fulfillment is far more satisfying over time, than searching for the next happy experience/feeling:
You have to be someone to yourself if you are going to be someone for anybody else. Be something and that’s who you are, perhaps changing through time.
- I am a pure soul, not the body
- I am in this world for a reason
- I am a loving son/ daughter or a faithful husband/ wife etc…
- I am a ( your occupation)
- I am a Quoran
- I am a (your hobby) lover
- I am the Son of the God
- I am Unique
Thank you!
It's the right question and also one of the most important questions in life. I've been asking myself exactly that question for years and answer just reveals itself with many discoveries and revelations. Answer is beyond mind, thought or feeling. It's internal, it's nondual and liberating. Gives you peace of mind, reduces inner dialog, expands consciousness and empathy.
Just keep asking that question and be an observer. Observe observing, be observing. Be meditation. You don't need to sit in asana and force yourself to meditate if you don't feel so. My favourite time is bed time. It goes deeper
It's the right question and also one of the most important questions in life. I've been asking myself exactly that question for years and answer just reveals itself with many discoveries and revelations. Answer is beyond mind, thought or feeling. It's internal, it's nondual and liberating. Gives you peace of mind, reduces inner dialog, expands consciousness and empathy.
Just keep asking that question and be an observer. Observe observing, be observing. Be meditation. You don't need to sit in asana and force yourself to meditate if you don't feel so. My favourite time is bed time. It goes deeper and deeper, you can feel it physically in the body, some call it kundalini, but you don't need to hang on to anything. Just be earnest :)
Aliveness!
Aliveness is most obvious, impersonal, nameless, formless, dimension-less, non-local, non-temporal, very near, dear and intimate and the very core of my BEING or LIFE.
This feeling is unmistakable, self luminous and self evident. This can never be proved objectively for my aliveness is the eternal SUBJECT.
It does not require any proof. It is so blatantly obvious.
I am ALIVENESS, which is synonymous with INTELLIGENCE, and it is called as BRAHMAN in the scriptures.
Who are you? No-one can just force you to understand right away, but if you're like me, then you will come to understand someday that the ego doesn't really exist. Hell, idk for sure if anything exists... but whatever you are, I am as well, and everyone else.. We are the universe. Connected in the most fundamental of ways, we are each mere fragments of the whole. It's rather strange, experiencing reality in this state of disconnection and isolation from the source... Our consciousness filtered spectrally as though through a prism into each of our current physical bodies. Amnesic to the fact that we are all there is, that we are all one, that we are all alone, we created this. You created this. Life is a transitory experience. You'll die someday and it will be as though you've just woken up from a nap. Eventually you'll sleep again, and perhaps you'll be me next time, giving yourself the same advice. Ultimately this is "my" interpretation. I think this question is something you must discover yourself on your own.
It generally defines you when you say who am i. It is the strongest word which really defines you and yourself. Apart from these,it means that u know yourself in a very better way and in a very better manner. Other than you no has the power to define you or knows you. Person with great mind and with great capability is the natural ingredient with which we are fulfill while we born. The statement who am i itself defines a person having mind full of thoughts and positivity. So the appropriate answer you will get into yourself. Just go deep inside your body and think from your internal soul. It w
It generally defines you when you say who am i. It is the strongest word which really defines you and yourself. Apart from these,it means that u know yourself in a very better way and in a very better manner. Other than you no has the power to define you or knows you. Person with great mind and with great capability is the natural ingredient with which we are fulfill while we born. The statement who am i itself defines a person having mind full of thoughts and positivity. So the appropriate answer you will get into yourself. Just go deep inside your body and think from your internal soul. It will absolutely give you the correct answer.
I am just another monkey who lives in a spinning ball of mud.
For that you need to understand your core self well. No matter whatever you discover yourself as at the end of the day you are just a human being as others are. Thank you
So, far I have given over 24,000 answers to that question. That is a different answer for each day of my life for the last 66 years. After all, how you conduct your life on any particular day is how you answer the question. The question “who am I” can only be answered by actions, never by just words — words and ideas are necessarily superficial and inadequate for that purpose. It’s what you do, not what you think that counts.
You are the person you perceive yourself to be. You make all the decisions for your life.
Answer is, it depends. Your answer could be i am x, but only you can truely understand what it means to be you. By feeling and by general information.
Any answer shared by any one else is only from their perception of their experiences of their world in view. All those answers are the best ones for them in their moments. Those may be way pointers for any one else however until one finds ones own answer one won't know ones own best. For this one sat here and now the best for this one is that this being here and now in every moment of every breath is no body, dressed as some body called Helen.
You are a servant of the Absolute Truth. To the degree you understand and realize it, to that same degree you will experience bliss and ecstasy.
This is a most important question and even separates the humans from the animals. The animals cannot ask this question and their lives are centered around eating, sleeping, mating and defending. Who am I? - Vaniquotes
Hello,
When I saw this question at that time I remember one famous line which is said by Swami Vivekanand…
Self introduction is not my culture.
Also this is true when you think about your introduction in front of many people. That is not pride moment for you when you introduce yourself but pride moment is that when someone introduce to you in front of many people.
So, create great personality therefore no can asked to you “who are you?”.
Human+being
Human The body is made up of the five elements, in order they are – earth, water, fire, air and sky. Our physical body is formed from the earth element.
Being- energy, soul
WHAT AM I?
I am a living entity separate from the body. Just as a man speaking on a telephone has an identity separate from that of the instrument – he being a living person who has the faculties of feeling, thinking, willing and making effort — the conscious entity in the body which uses the word “I” is different from the body, which has eyes, ears, limbs etc. as its components. I am not the eyes, ears or the mouth
Human+being
Human The body is made up of the five elements, in order they are – earth, water, fire, air and sky. Our physical body is formed from the earth element.
Being- energy, soul
WHAT AM I?
I am a living entity separate from the body. Just as a man speaking on a telephone has an identity separate from that of the instrument – he being a living person who has the faculties of feeling, thinking, willing and making effort — the conscious entity in the body which uses the word “I” is different from the body, which has eyes, ears, limbs etc. as its components. I am not the eyes, ears or the mouth, but I see with my eyes, speak through my mouth, hear with my ears and am their master. I am a soul, eternal and immortal. The body is mortal; I act through it and experience the results of my actions.
The soul is the driver of the body, which serves as its vehicle. When the soul leaves the body, the body is declared dead.
I'll try to answer this by way of an article of mine in the shape of a dialogue (published in "Gyan Vitaranam". an English monthly), in the light of Sankara's Advaita:
Does God exist?
He exists as surely as you do.
How do you know?
How do you know that you yourself exist?
I know because not only I think I am, but also I feel so with all my senses. But I can’t say the same of God.
You’ll say the same of God if you follow closely what I’m going to say. Okay?
I’d love to. Please go ahead.
Well, what you’ve just told me is from the knowledge derived from the experience of your waking state.
So what? What you’re going to say is also being said in the waking state you and I are sharing.
Well, I’m coming to that. Suppose you dream the same situation as this when you go to sleep tonight. Don’t you feel it real as long as you’re in that dream state?
Yes, absolutely. But the moment I wake up, I feel it unreal. Further the experience of seeing and conversing with you in my dream is my own. You won’t have any knowledge of it until I reveal it to you myself. It’s so because the dream is my own personalized experience. But I can recollect and re-live it and can report it to you in this waking state which we share.
You’re right. You’re making things easier for me. You’re unwittingly anticipating what I’m going to say. It helps me to explain with ease the advaitin’sposition to an analytical thinker like you.
Go ahead, Sir. I can’t wait to listen to your explaining. I’m very, very eager to hear you out.
You go to sleep and dream daily. In fact, we don’t remember most of our dreams, though they make up most of our sleep. We go through a deep sleep state when we aren’t dreaming in our sleep. This is everybody’s daily experience. Did you ever think of what happens to you when you go through this deep sleep state, that is, the dreamless state?
I never thought of it. May be, I think my ‘I-ness’ is under suspension only to restore itself in the dream state and again in the waking state.
You’re partially correct. The ‘I-ness’ you experience in the waking state is different from the ‘I-ness’ you experience in the dream state. In your dreams, your ‘I’ is capable of creating a world consisting of animate beings as well as inanimate things which are very much like in the real world. The fun of it is, you feel apart from this fantastic world though you yourself have created it. Of course, it isn’t your conscious creation. It is your sub-conscious projection, or rather, your unconscious creation in your dream state. That’s why, you feel apart and don’t know what goes in the minds of others in your dream, though the dream is your creation. The moment you wake up, your waking-state ‘I-ness’ promptly returns. You get me?
I get you. That too, with all the implications. In fact, I’m tempted to doubt if my ‘I-ness’ in the waking state is a constant. For this one ‘I’ of me becomes variable many in my dreams. And again, this ‘uni-I’ of my waking state and the ‘multi-I’ of my dream world becomes simply ‘I-less’ in the deep sleep state. I wouldn’t have any recollection of my ‘I-ness’ in the dreamless state. I assume that there would be no awareness of ‘I’ in that state. I wonder where would this ‘I’ be in that state. But it must be there in the background, only to be restored every time my waking state returns.
Again, you’re partially correct. According to advaita, it’s the other way round. In addition to the three states, that is, the waking, the dream and the deep sleep states known to all of us, there is a fourth state known to the great sages alone. This is a state where one is conscious only of the infinite non-duality like the singularity beyond space, time and causation posited by the theoretical physicists. Being a doctoral student of physics, you must be able to appreciate this. Well, this singularity of physics is the non-duality of advaita. This manifest mutli-verse is from the unmanifest singularity. Similarly this manifest universe is from the unmanifest Brahman. In fact, advaita says that the universe is only apparent, while the Brahman is absolute. From the advaitin’s viewpoint, the universe is only maya or illusion. But from the ignorant person’s viewpoint, the universe cannot be simply wished away and therefore, is real.
Sir, I can intellectually visualize this. If I can once experience that infinite non-duality, I can perceive all the other states as illusory and insubstantial. I guess I can view the waking state too as a conscious dream with a perfect equanimity. Perhaps that is like being what is called a Jivanmukta, the living-liberated. After my prarabdha is spent out, I’ll gain my moksha, that is, absolute liberation from all illusory dualities of space, time and causation. In the ultimate analysis, God is no extra-cosmic genius. God is one-without-a-second. That is, the infinite Brahman. As the Upanishadshave it, ahambrahmasmi: I am God, where ‘I’ is meant as the only real and infinite ‘I’ behind the countless false finite ‘I’s and ‘non-I’s of the macro-and micro-worlds. All the same, one doubt bugs me.
What is it?
Can’t this infinity-experience, after all, be a glorious hallucination?
First you’ve to accept it in good faith, until you become competent to judge it. Take for instance, the dream experience. As long as you dream, your dream experience is as good and authentic as your waking experience. When you wake up, you realize that it is a dream. You become competent to judge, only when you wake up. Similarly when you experience samadhi or the infinity-state, you attain the competency to judge the insubstantiality of the other states. Until then you have no right to doubt the Samadhi as hallucination or self-hypnotism. Until then, Ramana Maharshi’s inquiry of Who Am I, is the best prescription for self-realization for those with an exceptional IQ(Viveka) and EQ(Vairagya). For others, there are a number of disciplines in the sanatanadharma to suit their vastly varying tendencies or samskaras. For everyone is potentially divine in the precise sense of the word.##
I believe that the question “Who am I?” can’t be simply answered. Rather, a person needs to create the answer for themselves.
Life isn’t about finding yourself. Everyone is born a blank slate, albeit somewhat defined by things like economic class, prejudices people may have towards you and/or any diseases/disabilities you may be born with. Though most people, when asked that question, generally answer with their name, where they live, and hobbies.
When you go through life you’re creating yourself. You like certain things, you don’t like others. You form opinions and have thoughts. You find activ
I believe that the question “Who am I?” can’t be simply answered. Rather, a person needs to create the answer for themselves.
Life isn’t about finding yourself. Everyone is born a blank slate, albeit somewhat defined by things like economic class, prejudices people may have towards you and/or any diseases/disabilities you may be born with. Though most people, when asked that question, generally answer with their name, where they live, and hobbies.
When you go through life you’re creating yourself. You like certain things, you don’t like others. You form opinions and have thoughts. You find activities that you enjoy. You meet people and make friends. You start life from somewhere but you build your own path from there, rather than tracing one laid out before you.
One way to answer the question would be to think of the things you like, some interesting/strange facts about you or maybe even your favorite songs and books. The problem with the question is that because of the aforementioned “building your own path” thing, you can’t really make a person understand who you are with words, because they didn’t experience your life.
But if you’re trying to answer that question for yourself, I think the main thing you can try to do is think of what you like and dislike, how you spend most of your time, what you think makes you an individual and not just a random entity going through life.
I am
- Human
- Homosapiens
- Indian
- Rajasthani
- Jaipuri
- Living being
- Student
- Fan of Batman (as you can see me)
- Artist
- Lover
- Son
- Brother
- Father (in future)
- Grand son
- Cousin
- Nephew
- Husband (in future)
- Body builder
- Neighbor of my neighbors
- Bussiness man (in future)
- Friend
- Mamu
- Chachu
- Consumer
- Buyer
- User
- Influencer
- Decider
- Risk taker
- Payer
- Mentor
- Guider
- Counsler
- Answerer of this question
- Cycle rider
- Movie Watcher
- Quite Crazy Guy
- Owner of my inherent property(in future)
- Actor
- Dancer
- Singer
- Engineer
- Driver
- Camera man at the family function
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I am Aditya Sharma
Waves in the ocean get its identity through name and form. But it is not real. When the waves subsidise it become one with the ocean. Waves can't exist independent of the ocean but ocean can. We are also like waves in the ocean..It is our name and body gave us this physical identity but it not real. When we free ourselves from the bondage created by our senses and body we become one with the God which is the ultimate reality of all that exist but it may take several births. One day we will! So we may say we are the waves in the ocean of consciousness which pervades the entire universe.
Consider this. You are a video game developer. One day you created one of the best RPG game ever. You played it day and night and enjoyed it very much. There were forests, oceans, monsters, swords, intelligent people, dumb people, beautiful sky, exciting mythology, and everything you could think of in that game. It was seriously the best game ever.
But then the things started getting boring. Even though it was very exciting, deep down inside you knew that it was just a game. Sadly you came to the realization that even though you can play it all you want, you can never ever fully experience that
Consider this. You are a video game developer. One day you created one of the best RPG game ever. You played it day and night and enjoyed it very much. There were forests, oceans, monsters, swords, intelligent people, dumb people, beautiful sky, exciting mythology, and everything you could think of in that game. It was seriously the best game ever.
But then the things started getting boring. Even though it was very exciting, deep down inside you knew that it was just a game. Sadly you came to the realization that even though you can play it all you want, you can never ever fully experience that game world because you KNEW it was 'just a game'. You wanted to really know your masterpiece, to really understand what you had created, to experience it. And that was only possible if you could truly forget that you were playing a game but instead believed that, that world was all real. In theory, to really and completely experience your creativity you would like to divide yourself into the various animals, people and even plants in that game and enter in that game and fully experience what you had just created through various viewpoints of many different living things in that game. But the main condition would be that those creatures should never know that I or "they" are the ones who originally created that world/game. Because that will surely spoil the whole experience of exploring that game world on their own, not knowing what is there behind that corner or the secrets of the world that the developer hid in that game.
But as days passed by, those people in the game started becoming depressed. They started asking themselves "What the hell is this? What are we doing here? What is our purpose? WHO ARE WE? " But sadly they couldn't do anything about those questions, because they were doing exactly what the developer had intended. They were EXPERIENCING THE GAME.
Just another weight on earth.
I just Googled “Who am I?” and got 152,000,000 listings. That should keep you busy for awhile.
However, there are several simpler approaches to get started with:
- Consider that you are a particular point in time and space. See if you can figure out your coordinates.
- Take an inventory of everything you have: your appearance, your emotions, your thoughts, your feelings. You are then the sum of all of them.
- Try to figure out who is looking out of your eyes.
By searching for that which never changes.
Who am I? That’s a question that’s a lot harder to answer than one might think. It requires deep reflection and self-awareness. One thing for sure, you are more than a species of the human race. If you go right to basics, I would say you are a spiritual being in a physical body. That’s the starting definition. Then you are a combination of generic traits that make up your physical and mental bodie
Who am I? That’s a question that’s a lot harder to answer than one might think. It requires deep reflection and self-awareness. One thing for sure, you are more than a species of the human race. If you go right to basics, I would say you are a spiritual being in a physical body. That’s the starting definition. Then you are a combination of generic traits that make up your physical and mental bodies. Then you are a unique personality. Your personality is the face you show to the world as you go through life. Then you are a mother, father, aunt, uncle, whatever your relationship is to signif...
Great sages have spent their lifetime seeking an answer to this question. Those who found the answer have merged themselves in an ecstatic state called samadhi… some of them said that it is a state and experience that is beyond words and explanation.
I am 22 and i sort of went through the same thing when i was 19, i am not sure to what extent you are troubled by these perplexed questions, but i know it was drastic for me, i wont say i couldn't eat but i would say i couldn't sleep, it sort of became a mantra for me i kept repeating the same things again and again in my mind until i felt completely fettered by my existence, every thing is so clear when one is going through this phase of life, it is clear that there are doubts but its not clear how to come out of it or to that matter how to even reason out of it, it sort of numbed my soul so
I am 22 and i sort of went through the same thing when i was 19, i am not sure to what extent you are troubled by these perplexed questions, but i know it was drastic for me, i wont say i couldn't eat but i would say i couldn't sleep, it sort of became a mantra for me i kept repeating the same things again and again in my mind until i felt completely fettered by my existence, every thing is so clear when one is going through this phase of life, it is clear that there are doubts but its not clear how to come out of it or to that matter how to even reason out of it, it sort of numbed my soul so to speak. I think that what you feel will not stop until it forces an answer out of you and you will abstain from being ordinary or you surrender and accept the fact that you will become an ordinary person and you will be institutionalised by life. Also there is both reason and rhyme to the way you feel, it is you your self trying to find a deeper meaning in your life and existence. I found my answers owing to the pain that these emotions caused me , i found my answers in advaita vedanta and mostly philosophical insights to life. I do not think any other schools of thought are capable of answering these questions as it made sense to me. For now i advice you be like a pebble in the river and flow with the water to where so ever it leads.
It will lead you to your ocean ( That's a very poor metaphor i suppose) .
Observe awareness, thoughts, moods, reactions, feelings. Watch awareness itself and how it changes. How do these things work?
Read some good books that tour you around your own mind:
Amazon.com: Falling into Grace: Insights on the End of Suffering (9781604079371): Adyashanti: Books
Just return with a humble allegory:
"I-
-am a data subject (unless living in the jungle).
-was raised, protected, and had full access to freedom for safety and health.
-rebelled, then got free.
-sought for identity.
-had to decide and brag.”
O dear! You know no other people can give this answer to you as you're the one who has best answer for this question but why are you in hurry you have your whole life,You know what defines us best i.e the things we do,the decisions we take in lyf,the contribution of us in others life, the way we handle situations wait a second don't you think that all these things re a part of our life,so i will just say live your life to the fullest,take your decisions,enjoy being you,see what have you become in your life by your steps that is you but this is my view as i said earlier You can define yourself
O dear! You know no other people can give this answer to you as you're the one who has best answer for this question but why are you in hurry you have your whole life,You know what defines us best i.e the things we do,the decisions we take in lyf,the contribution of us in others life, the way we handle situations wait a second don't you think that all these things re a part of our life,so i will just say live your life to the fullest,take your decisions,enjoy being you,see what have you become in your life by your steps that is you but this is my view as i said earlier You can define yourself best so we have got this life to understand this thing only.
Well .........
Well .........
Even the total sum of thoughts and memories, which we call our personality, cannot be me, since it changes over time.
I think it is lazy to assume that "I" cannot change over time. When I look back at the way I've reacted to situations in the past, I find that I would react differently now. Why assume that I am the same "I" now that I was ten years ago? Sure, I refer to my past self as "I", but that is mostly because I have a memory of that person being me.
I recently had this dream…
It’s kinda long I’ll just say the last part. The last scene I walk through a door and it slams shut behind me. I hear voices in the tiny bathroom telling me how I was tricked. There’s a mirror and a sink. I look at myself in the mirror, and I immediately start telling myself wake up wake up wake up. As I splash water in my face, each time I feel myself getting out of the dream more and more. Eventually I run my entire face under the faucet. And the very last thing I see in my dream, is me looking into the mirror with my crying tears and a red face. Looking at myself i
I recently had this dream…
It’s kinda long I’ll just say the last part. The last scene I walk through a door and it slams shut behind me. I hear voices in the tiny bathroom telling me how I was tricked. There’s a mirror and a sink. I look at myself in the mirror, and I immediately start telling myself wake up wake up wake up. As I splash water in my face, each time I feel myself getting out of the dream more and more. Eventually I run my entire face under the faucet. And the very last thing I see in my dream, is me looking into the mirror with my crying tears and a red face. Looking at myself in the eye saying “who am I?” Then my dream ends in that second.
what does this mean?
-confused teen
you are a legal fiction that persists from birth to death of the ever changing body identified by your legal designations. The real you is beyond anything you can point to or discuss.
No-one..
yes, indeed.. any answer to this qstn or even the effort to answer it is wrong..
not because there is a right answer somewhere in the seventh heaven, but because there can b no answer at all..
the qstn ‘who am i ?’ is actually asked by the ego and the qstn is about the ego, as a result of the qstn the ego vanishes.. people identify with whatever remains after the ego as the ‘answer to the qstn WHO AM I ?’
if u r not intent on losing your ego (which is your sense of being a someone), then pls do not play with fire.. you will get burnt..!!
I don’t know who did it best. But one of the good one’s is the Biblical God who says: ‘I Am who I Am.’ That’s pretty neat.
All Enlightened Masters answered it perfectly. Ramana Maharishi specifically worded his meditation advice in these words. “Find out: ‘Who Am I?’”
Daily meditation leads to Enlightenment, the goal of life.
Simple answer, you are what you are.
The extraordinarily simple one you are not what you think and you can never ever grasp you in your / with your thinking.
Even if you are Einstein or Newton or Edison or Plato or Kant or even if you are all these big heads put together.
We are star dust, we are golden, we are billion years of carbon…
The first thing that came to my mind!
I want to be happy and make other people happy.
I don't care that my life has an end, I've accepted that.
I have feeling so I know that fire burns me. I have emotions to know that some things are worse than physical pain.
"Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional."
Who am I?
Jeffrey fucking Tenenbaum.
But I'm also the product of the influence of a lot of great people.
Why am I here?
To leave this world a better place than it was when I arrived.
Why?
Because it seems like other people had the same intentions before me.
I'm a big fan of reciprocation for things like that.
“I AM”
Humbly before the one who IS THAT HE IS.
If I were enlightened maybe I could help you answer. Since I am not I will try to point at a few things.
The question is met as a method of inquiry. Who am I, what am I, who is writing and thinks he knows something… When you think you have it… who thinks they have it… who is the observer…
This maybe helpful…
It has too many answers to count.
I am...
the guy answering this question.
my parents' child.
Daniel.
a father.
a dog lover.
a human.
a cook.
and I can go like that until my keyboard breaks down. None of those answers is complete, none of them is wrong, they are all valid answers to the question of who I am.
And it gets a lot more complicated than that no matter on what field of thought you want to focus. Biologically, I am so much more than the collection of cells with my DNA. I'm also all my associated bacteria, and they define even my mood. Philosophically, I'm the product of my circumstances,
It has too many answers to count.
I am...
the guy answering this question.
my parents' child.
Daniel.
a father.
a dog lover.
a human.
a cook.
and I can go like that until my keyboard breaks down. None of those answers is complete, none of them is wrong, they are all valid answers to the question of who I am.
And it gets a lot more complicated than that no matter on what field of thought you want to focus. Biologically, I am so much more than the collection of cells with my DNA. I'm also all my associated bacteria, and they define even my mood. Philosophically, I'm the product of my circumstances, and a cause of many actions around me. Physically, I include my gravitational and magnetic fields, the movement of the air around me.
I cannot be defined. My effects extend well beyond my skin and my time. They merge with the effects of others around me to the point where we cannot be told apart. My roots extend all the way back to the vary origin of the universe. I am boundless, and thus undefinable.
A2A, thank you: It has a couple different kinds of answers, maybe three different kinds.
The first is what Daniel Montano said: your name, son of x, father of y, your occupation, how tall you are, etc. It is an endless list, and actually can be kind of self-affirming to realize how many things you are.
The second, which is what first comes to mind to me, is, you already know. You're just probably stuck in that the first answer is the only one, your resume, as it were. You know who you are, it's who you're talking to when you talk to yourself, the person who thinks "I'm hungry" or "she's cute",
A2A, thank you: It has a couple different kinds of answers, maybe three different kinds.
The first is what Daniel Montano said: your name, son of x, father of y, your occupation, how tall you are, etc. It is an endless list, and actually can be kind of self-affirming to realize how many things you are.
The second, which is what first comes to mind to me, is, you already know. You're just probably stuck in that the first answer is the only one, your resume, as it were. You know who you are, it's who you're talking to when you talk to yourself, the person who thinks "I'm hungry" or "she's cute", who feels sad, or comfortable after a long day just lying down and watching some TV. It's the same you you've always been - that person inside, "me", that you've had since your were born. You know that guy, he's you. He's kinda vulnerable, he gets mad sometimes, he wonders "who am I?", but he knows, hey, I'm not such a bad guy. I'm trying, right? People don't realize how great that person inside is.
I don't know if you yourself would call the second a "real answer", but it is certainly one that's inarguable. It's for always, you came with "me", you were there at your first memory, right? Honestly my friend, I know it's not so easy to give that aspect of yourself much credit. But it's really important to know that there's something far more than what you "do".
Third answer might be that we're all here for some greater purpose, a piece or an element in some big puzzle. Maybe we have no idea what that is, but it's kinda a combination of the first two. If you're a parent, don't you think that you're a pretty profound factor in your child's life story? And it's both what you do, what you know, your parenting skills AND that it's you involved. You're not just some random human unit with a kid. What makes you special in that regard, and different from me or anybody else, is that it's you that's the dad. That "you" is not only who you really are, but it's who your child will most remember. Who knows, maybe why we're all here is to be a part of each others' lives.
Well... who are you? You're you. Who else could you be?
“Aham Bramhaashmi” !
“ I am the “Self-Creater” and “ Self-Destroyer “ for my In-finite “ Self -Generation “ Cycle.
Got self germinated with soul for the “1st Time” in the Woumb of my ‘Father’ , But without his Knowledge ????????
From a Nano size , Got Self Germinated for the “2nd Time” in the Woumb of my Mother but she came to know “ Latter Days Only” ?????????,
With almost ‘ a Foot’ Length , Got Self Germinated for the “3rd Time” to the Woumb of my ‘Mother Earth’. Did “She” knew ???????
In this Journey from a “ Nano size, have Have Grown to almost 5-Feet and above.
Developed myself in X-X, Y-Y & Z-
“Aham Bramhaashmi” !
“ I am the “Self-Creater” and “ Self-Destroyer “ for my In-finite “ Self -Generation “ Cycle.
Got self germinated with soul for the “1st Time” in the Woumb of my ‘Father’ , But without his Knowledge ????????
From a Nano size , Got Self Germinated for the “2nd Time” in the Woumb of my Mother but she came to know “ Latter Days Only” ?????????,
With almost ‘ a Foot’ Length , Got Self Germinated for the “3rd Time” to the Woumb of my ‘Mother Earth’. Did “She” knew ???????
In this Journey from a “ Nano size, have Have Grown to almost 5-Feet and above.
Developed myself in X-X, Y-Y & Z-Z Ordinates with Time & Vibrations in this Universel System.
Am “ The 1st Creater of Myself ” & Shall be & Remain for my “4th Self Germination”
My “ Re-Birth / Re-Germination ” .
My “Cycle” goes on and on and on & On.
Nobody can stop me for my “ 4th Self-Germination & My “Re-Incarnation” ?????
I am a human. I am a human, who was born to this world, glowing with pride. I was proud of my life, I am still. It is okay for me to have shortcomings, because one day they are converted into wisdom, my virtues. I am not perfect, because everything perfect is dull. I am a human with a sheer range of emotions. I feel fear, sometimes pull out of it. I feel satisfaction, boredom, happiness, anxiety, and so on. I am living. I have dreams(goals). These amazing thoughts lead me to success. I am just a human, special and bright 🔆
Wise people tend to answer it by locating themselves within something much larger - a strong community, a proud tradition, or a loving family. The individual best fulfills himself by serving that community, extending those traditions, or giving birth to and raising the next generation of the family.
The wisdom literature of many cultures often shows that the opposite of this approach - self-aggrandizement, or identifying one’s destiny or happiness solely in terms of himself, without reference to something greater - leads to overreaching and failure.
Even the US, the most individualistic country
Wise people tend to answer it by locating themselves within something much larger - a strong community, a proud tradition, or a loving family. The individual best fulfills himself by serving that community, extending those traditions, or giving birth to and raising the next generation of the family.
The wisdom literature of many cultures often shows that the opposite of this approach - self-aggrandizement, or identifying one’s destiny or happiness solely in terms of himself, without reference to something greater - leads to overreaching and failure.
Even the US, the most individualistic country on the planet, recognizes this wisdom in its core ethos, “e pluribus unum.” Find yourself by losing yourself in something greater.
I am happy that you are confused! In these areas, it is better that we afford ignorance, since people whom I know, who attained clarity about your doubt, let it be Adi Sankara, Buddha or Ramana, left everything and wandered in their whole life, leaving a great legacy for parasites to live on their names without doing any work!
I also think that you did not get this confusion when you are asked for an ID at the Airport wherein you have to establish your ID!
Nor you just wake up, like my immediate elder brother who fell in deep coma due to hypoglycemia, and once he was given insulin shots, he woke up and instead of asking those around him: where am I? and who are you people around me looking like guards of Lord Of death-YAMA, he asked what you were asked by people:who am I? The Diabetic expert examining him said:This is what we want the answer from you!
So you are asking from an altogether different mental framework, I suppose!
My great great grandfather was owning a car in 1820 which was handed over to his son. By that time itself, the bumpers and step bumpers were already replaced. then when he was using the car, he replaced hoods and header and noose panels, Within a short time, he had a head on collision with a tree and he had to replace mirrors, tail lights,AC condensers,grills, radiator supports and doors. Around in 1950s, when he dies, the car was sentimentally driven by his 3rd generation son who after a year or so, replaced fenders, radiators and head lights. By the time, I started using this car, all the seats and interior designs have been totally changed.
When I went to attend my niece wedding in that car, people asked me whose car is this? Is this model still available?
I blissfully told everyone: It is my great great grandfather's car which has been handed over to me after 4 generations! I am proud to have this car, since this is used personally by my great etc; etc!
Fools are generally flock around me in the name of friends/relations/well wishers! All felt jealous of me!
One little kid asked me: Not a Uncle! Not a single part or even dirt of the car used by your great great etc; etc; is not now in this car that you drive today. How you, if not cheat, mislead all around you, that it is the same car sued by your so and so?
What the kid snubbed me straight, I took gracefully!
The kid pooh-poohed your wonder how the identity of car is maintained!
The fate of I is the fate of the ID of car!
Sometimes, I do think that I learn better from monkeys and kids!
You have been a Baby, Child, Teenager, Adult, a Father, a Grandfather, you have been a Friend, a Brother, an Uncle, and so on depending on your Sexuality,
not unless you seek the inner you, the Child within, you will always be one of the above,
the real you that which as been with you since the year dot, is the one thing that never changes, you can connect with the inner source, if you look beyond the physical, and look at the essence of all matter, maybe in silence, in meditation done properly take you to the essence of who you are, when you find that, you will realise we are here to help o
You have been a Baby, Child, Teenager, Adult, a Father, a Grandfather, you have been a Friend, a Brother, an Uncle, and so on depending on your Sexuality,
not unless you seek the inner you, the Child within, you will always be one of the above,
the real you that which as been with you since the year dot, is the one thing that never changes, you can connect with the inner source, if you look beyond the physical, and look at the essence of all matter, maybe in silence, in meditation done properly take you to the essence of who you are, when you find that, you will realise we are here to help one another, and we are here to make this Planet a better place.
The best approach to knowing who your inner being is, is by knowing what excites you, what motivates you, what you care about the most, your aspirations, aptitudes and motives… These things and more best defines who you are; accepting and not being ashamed to live them out to the fullest is the best approach and the only step to take in order to live a meaningful life.
Ask the person who made you.
He says:
‘For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.’Ephesians 2:10
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.1 Peter 2:9
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden fro
Ask the person who made you.
He says:
‘For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.’Ephesians 2:10
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.1 Peter 2:9
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. Psalm 139:13-16
Learn meditation. Explore a few traditions, stick with the one that appeals. You'd be amazed a few years down the line by what you've become.
There are people as curious as you are and devoted to the cause. Some of them are even ahead of you. A few of these some of them have even seen the end and they are willing to share. Last I checked even Sid had similar doubts. He cracked the puzzle and I know of him as the Buddha now. He was the dude but not the only one. I personally mix him with Krisna. It suits my taste. You explore yours.
Welcome to the community. Here we learn to find answers to dee
Learn meditation. Explore a few traditions, stick with the one that appeals. You'd be amazed a few years down the line by what you've become.
There are people as curious as you are and devoted to the cause. Some of them are even ahead of you. A few of these some of them have even seen the end and they are willing to share. Last I checked even Sid had similar doubts. He cracked the puzzle and I know of him as the Buddha now. He was the dude but not the only one. I personally mix him with Krisna. It suits my taste. You explore yours.
Welcome to the community. Here we learn to find answers to deep questions and also cultivate okayness with the questions themselves. Because in our journey of finding answers there comes a point when you understand, there was no question at the first place. It has always been resistance - to change, to flow, to really be. We express resistance by asking questions but we don't know it. Once resistance goes, bliss happens by itself. Your true nature expresses itself before you.
Interesting I thought that I was the only one who went through all this at the age of 14 or 15. I don't exactly remember but the conditions in my case was so severe that I started to believe that I will loose my mental stability. But don't worry you will be fine as I can tell you because I am fine you see. Its just a matter of time you will get used to it. This happens because earlier your mind do not use to think in this direction. Just relax because this time will too pass. I know the more you will try not to think about all this the more it will come to your head. Thats natural there is not
Interesting I thought that I was the only one who went through all this at the age of 14 or 15. I don't exactly remember but the conditions in my case was so severe that I started to believe that I will loose my mental stability. But don't worry you will be fine as I can tell you because I am fine you see. Its just a matter of time you will get used to it. This happens because earlier your mind do not use to think in this direction. Just relax because this time will too pass. I know the more you will try not to think about all this the more it will come to your head. Thats natural there is nothing to be fear about and believe me after this period you will probably become a better person in life :)
Thanks for the A2A.
It's natural to have these questions. I don't get scared though. I am amazed at everything now. I used to be scared. A lot. And it's okay to be. Girl, you are growing up. This is the time you start questioning everything. At times I think that the real life we are pursuing might be a dream and when we face death, we might wake up. Okay I think I have scared you a bit more here. If yes, sorry. Read Einstein's theories on space and time. Watch the show Ancient Aliens. You will get a much better idea about our existence and you will grow closer to the answers you are looking fo
Thanks for the A2A.
It's natural to have these questions. I don't get scared though. I am amazed at everything now. I used to be scared. A lot. And it's okay to be. Girl, you are growing up. This is the time you start questioning everything. At times I think that the real life we are pursuing might be a dream and when we face death, we might wake up. Okay I think I have scared you a bit more here. If yes, sorry. Read Einstein's theories on space and time. Watch the show Ancient Aliens. You will get a much better idea about our existence and you will grow closer to the answers you are looking for. I got out of the problem through this.
About the purpose of your life, you will figure out eventually. I feel that on the last day of our life, we will see everything falling into place. It's okay to make mistakes. It's okay to not have answers to questions. It's okay to be amazed about spiritual existence.
I won't force you on this but, I found some of my answers after researching Buddhist teachings. You can try that as well.
All the best.
Why complicate this question? It does not ask who am I tomorrow or yesterday or the past years. It simply ask who am I today, this moment? If you want to expound it, it's asking who do I beleive I am? So, if you believe in Christ, you're a Christian created by God, if you're a Muslim, created by the same. If you're an Evolutionist, then your belief will be different. So answer it with what resources you have, that is, your story. The answer will give you one of human's needs, the need for certainty.
The truth will be the best possible answer. You are one-without-a-second, infinite consciousness that is space-wise and time-wise and object-wise limitless…which means you are limitless period. Being limitless you have no limitations…which means that there is nothing and no one separate from you. Therefore you are Complete.
This completeness or fullness or wholeness, which is your true nature, is experienced in the form of happiness, joy, love or any experience wherein you find yourself a non-wanting person. The experiences of happiness, joy etc are just miniscule fractions of your limitlessnes
The truth will be the best possible answer. You are one-without-a-second, infinite consciousness that is space-wise and time-wise and object-wise limitless…which means you are limitless period. Being limitless you have no limitations…which means that there is nothing and no one separate from you. Therefore you are Complete.
This completeness or fullness or wholeness, which is your true nature, is experienced in the form of happiness, joy, love or any experience wherein you find yourself a non-wanting person. The experiences of happiness, joy etc are just miniscule fractions of your limitlessness…so that tells you what your true nature (which is apparently limited by a body-mind-sense-ego complex) must be like!
Your true nature has 3 aspects to it:
1) Existence - which means that you are free from change and therefore free from time (& therefore from space, since they go together). With respect to Time you are Eternal, but basically you are Timeless.
2) Consciousness
3) Wholeness — or limitlessness or Fullness, which means that you do not lack anything and therefore are complete.
The reason for not knowing this already accomplished fact is self-ignorance, which we are all born with. Since ignorance is the problem, knowledge has to be the solution. Therefore the solution to ignorance of one’s true nature can only be removed by gaining self-knowledge. Good thing that the world religions’ philosophical texts talk about this. However, many of them are in poetic language, and some in prose. There are a few that actually conduct an enquiry into the individual’s true nature in the form of a systematic, logical, analytical process that is written in the form of dialogues between a seeker of self-knowledge and a teacher or Guru.
The Upanishads (collectively called Vedanta because they are the last portion of the Vedas) deal with this knowledge. They are written in Sanskrit originally, though many have been Transliterated (translated Verbatim wherein any context, implied meanings, metaphors etc are Lost!) into English by scholars of Sanskrit only, as opposed to some instances wherein some have been Translated into English by Scholars of Sanskrit & Vedanta.
You can see why the second option would be a better one to pursue. This is also why it is a better option to study Vedanta with Scholars of Vedanta and Sanskrit.
Hope this helps!
Sincerely,
Jai
You are a human being like millions othere on this earth.
Over your life time you’ll know that and so will we. the trick is to have consensus.
I am more than the sum of my parts or more than the sum of my knowledge.
To find out who you are, eliminate all those things you are not.
First if you consider yourself to be this body, then do you think that you came into existence after your birth, If so where were you before it. In your deep sleep, you Know that an entity called I exist. And in deep sleep you aren't aware of your body. So you cat be the body.
Like this keep eliminating what you are not and all of a sudden, youll see your brilliant real self shining before you. I too am in the same search which you are in i.e. to find out who I am . All the best to you on your journey.
Also read the NIRVANA SHATAKAM
To find out who you are, eliminate all those things you are not.
First if you consider yourself to be this body, then do you think that you came into existence after your birth, If so where were you before it. In your deep sleep, you Know that an entity called I exist. And in deep sleep you aren't aware of your body. So you cat be the body.
Like this keep eliminating what you are not and all of a sudden, youll see your brilliant real self shining before you. I too am in the same search which you are in i.e. to find out who I am . All the best to you on your journey.
Also read the NIRVANA SHATAKAM by adi shankara. It’ll become clearer.
Unless you want to be unhappy and frustrated all your life, the best way to answer that is with positive words which empower you.
I am amazing.
I am great.
I am exceptional.
I am awesome.
I am a genius.
and so forth, let your creativity run wild, just make sure they are very positive and optimistic.
There are some questions which can only answered by that particular person who have the question. Gautam Buddha also found him unable to answer seven questions. Another thing some questions ,i say curiosity should be realized,experienced and it can not come within the words or language frame. U can not detect those experiences to others. Suppose u are eating sugar or gud and another person asks you what's the taste u can not make him realize what's the taste. For this he has to go through structured process then can he realize.
A zen master might answer that in one of several ways:
1. "3 pounds of flax"
2. "Go wash your bowl"
3. "Nothing"
Slight explanations, because zen wasnt big on lots of explaining and meta conversations:
1. Points to the absurdity of a meta conversation. You are what you are, what you are.
2. You are what you do. What you think doesnt matter nearly as much as what you do with it.
3. These are all answers to the question what is enlightenment, but it works with what am I. The "nothing" answer explains that enlightenment isnt a thing you have inside you nor is it a place like heaven. It is a way of bei
A zen master might answer that in one of several ways:
1. "3 pounds of flax"
2. "Go wash your bowl"
3. "Nothing"
Slight explanations, because zen wasnt big on lots of explaining and meta conversations:
1. Points to the absurdity of a meta conversation. You are what you are, what you are.
2. You are what you do. What you think doesnt matter nearly as much as what you do with it.
3. These are all answers to the question what is enlightenment, but it works with what am I. The "nothing" answer explains that enlightenment isnt a thing you have inside you nor is it a place like heaven. It is a way of being. But the answer also answers what am I, because "I" is an invented construct, a sound, or a letter on a screen, that we give meaning to. And zen gets that there is no meaning but what we add to the universe. There is no "I" except for whatever meaning we give it. Without that neaning, "I" is meaningless, "I" is nothing. Which then means that you are whatever meaning you give yourself and everyone else gives you.
If you say you are a god in human form, and if everyone treats you like a god in human form, that is what you are. If you say you are worthless and everyone agrees, then that is what you are.
Ahh... Really tough to answer this type of question.
But wait! I can suggest you something. I always prepare my speech or some special blog or any answer in three parts (if it's relevant)--- 1. Past, 2. Present, 3.Future...
Or the need of doing X, current situation of X and thus future aspects of X.
Coming to your query, You can answer that question in 3 parts... What was your past? What are you doing now? What are future plans or to-do lists??
Hope this helps :)
Thanks for A2A Khyati Singh. Best wishes!
It goes like this
Gender
Age
Nationality
Name
Place of birth
Parents or ethnicity
Education or past
Profession
Sexual preference
Religion you follow
Physical attributes
Mental process
and the list goes on by what all you keep adding to it from your birth till present.
Though if the question is philosophical or spiritual or sci...
Just say..I am.thats you are.
Keep asking this question. Go inside you. Observe your thought process. Do not rest till you find the answer. Once you find the answer, the result will be exhilarating
One thing i cam tell you is what you are not,you are not your name,not you body,not your relegion,not your money,not your job and not even your thoughts.
So you can be rest assured whatever you think you are,you are not,they are just thoughts.All these are changing or all are changeable,how can u be something which is always changing.,so maybe you are just that MOMENT now and bit by bit something else in the very next one.
'Who am I?' The physical body, composed of the seven dhatus, is not 'I'. The five sense organs… and the five types of perception known through the senses… are not 'I'. The five parts of the body which act… and their functions… are not 'I'. The five vital airs such as prana, which perform the five vital functions such as respiration, are not 'I'. Even the mind that thinks is not 'I'. In the state of deep sleep vishaya vasanas remain. Devoid of sensory knowledge and activity, even this [state] is not 'I'. After negating all of the above as 'not I, not I', the knowledge that alone remains is itse
'Who am I?' The physical body, composed of the seven dhatus, is not 'I'. The five sense organs… and the five types of perception known through the senses… are not 'I'. The five parts of the body which act… and their functions… are not 'I'. The five vital airs such as prana, which perform the five vital functions such as respiration, are not 'I'. Even the mind that thinks is not 'I'. In the state of deep sleep vishaya vasanas remain. Devoid of sensory knowledge and activity, even this [state] is not 'I'. After negating all of the above as 'not I, not I', the knowledge that alone remains is itself 'I'. The nature of knowledge is sat-chit-ananda [being-consciousness-bliss].
-Sri Ramana Maharshi
@http://davidgodman.org/rteach/whoami1.shtml
That’s an Interesting question indeed!
I am Sanjay Wadhwa?….but who is Sanjay Wadhwa?
I am a peaceful Soul?……..but how do you know?
I am a Professional?…..Who is a Professional?
Infact, no one knows about this question? This is the Strongest Question in the Universe! No one Knows and everyone is interested in knowing others…but not to himself. The ground reality is that I can not judge any other without knowing MYSELF.
Now who is MYSELF?
I AM and I AM only.
The answer lies with-in ME and is recovered by understanding our daily routine only. Whatever I do for ourselves or for others…the Person who wat
That’s an Interesting question indeed!
I am Sanjay Wadhwa?….but who is Sanjay Wadhwa?
I am a peaceful Soul?……..but how do you know?
I am a Professional?…..Who is a Professional?
Infact, no one knows about this question? This is the Strongest Question in the Universe! No one Knows and everyone is interested in knowing others…but not to himself. The ground reality is that I can not judge any other without knowing MYSELF.
Now who is MYSELF?
I AM and I AM only.
The answer lies with-in ME and is recovered by understanding our daily routine only. Whatever I do for ourselves or for others…the Person who watches everything happening is I.
I think he is the SAKSHI of our actions and thought process!
Hold on with question for few months if not years and do the following.
Observe people you love/like closely, whatever makes them valuable for you(or whatever you like about them) try to imitate or rather imbibe those values in yourself. I hope then after imbibing some of these finest values you will get your answer or you will not think the question important enough any longer because I think what is important more is "who we become" than "who we are".
The question should better be asked as-
"What am i?"
A part of you was a part of an animal once, a flame, a star. A part will become mineral, flow in a plant, sprout in a fruit, get pecked by a bird. Every atom of your body will be recycled by the universe.
You think you are a person but you are a colony. You have trillions of bacteria in your body. Can you live without those bacteria in your body? No, they are just you. How do you know where you end, and where your environment begins.
- Credit: Ship of Theseus
There are different ways to think on that.
First One>>>
But give it a deep thought and you will realize that not only you but all of us are mere Homo Sapiens living on a tiny planet called Earth in a small solar system in a corner of the Milky Way Galaxy in just a small part of the ever expanding universe….
Can you find yourself in there. No chance…
So think again…
Who am I???
Well nothing compared to the universe we live in. Tiny organisms who can be crushed my two small planets colliding which again are nowhere in this universe.
So we are really nothing..
Second One>>>
But on the flip side Who am I c
There are different ways to think on that.
First One>>>
But give it a deep thought and you will realize that not only you but all of us are mere Homo Sapiens living on a tiny planet called Earth in a small solar system in a corner of the Milky Way Galaxy in just a small part of the ever expanding universe….
Can you find yourself in there. No chance…
So think again…
Who am I???
Well nothing compared to the universe we live in. Tiny organisms who can be crushed my two small planets colliding which again are nowhere in this universe.
So we are really nothing..
Second One>>>
But on the flip side Who am I can be defined from what you are within you. A good human, helpful,kind. But these are the definitions that you give to yourself and we can not decide upon. Its a reflection of your actions
Imagine for a moment ….. I am driving a four-wheeler …. a car all by myself…… all alone !!!
From no where, as if out of the blue, suddenly this question comes to my mind ……
“ WHO AM I ? ”
Am I …. this vehicle …. the car ? No.
I am different from the car. I am driving the car.
I AM THE DRIVER !! And the car is driven by me !!!!!
Am I ….. this body, with all its different organs ….. weighing 82 Kgs ? No
Imagine for a moment ….. I am driving a four-wheeler …. a car all by myself…… all alone !!!
From no where, as if out of the blue, suddenly this question comes to my mind ……
“ WHO AM I ? ”
Am I …. this vehicle …. the car ? No.
I am different from the car. I am driving the car.
I AM THE DRIVER !! And the car is driven by me !!!!!
Am I ….. this body, with all its different organs ….. weighing 82 Kgs ? No,
I am different from the body. I keep the body in action.
I AM THE MOTIVATOR !!! I AM THE SOUL !!!!!
The BIBLE ….. supports this …….
“DUST THOU ART AND TO D...
The answer for this question “Who Am I” is very very simple. If you can differentiate between “I” & “My”, I think you can get the answer. Even though we are using these two words “I” & “My” a number of times daily, but generally, we never go into the depth of its meaning.
Most of the time, we say, “I am sitting”, “I am eating”, “I am writing”, “I am . . .”, “I am . . .”, etc. and “it is my car”, “my office”, “my hand” “my eyes”. So, if we go deep in to the real concept of these two words “I” & “my”, we understand that “I” means the Eternal Energy SOUL and “my” means the body and its relation to
The answer for this question “Who Am I” is very very simple. If you can differentiate between “I” & “My”, I think you can get the answer. Even though we are using these two words “I” & “My” a number of times daily, but generally, we never go into the depth of its meaning.
Most of the time, we say, “I am sitting”, “I am eating”, “I am writing”, “I am . . .”, “I am . . .”, etc. and “it is my car”, “my office”, “my hand” “my eyes”. So, if we go deep in to the real concept of these two words “I” & “my”, we understand that “I” means the Eternal Energy SOUL and “my” means the body and its relation to men, materials, situations, qualities linked with the SOUL.
Sorry for any grammar mistakes.
Our lives is the most exotic of gifts given to us by our ancestors.
'We are going to die and that makes us the lucky ones. Most people are never gonna die because they are never born, the number of people who could be here in our place outnumber the number of sand-grains in Sahara if you could think all the number of ways our genes could be permuted we are quite lucky ; the number of events that has to happen in order for us to exist ; we are privileged to be alive and we should make the most of our time on this world'
Man is the creator of his own destiny.
If I am good in science I am a future
Our lives is the most exotic of gifts given to us by our ancestors.
'We are going to die and that makes us the lucky ones. Most people are never gonna die because they are never born, the number of people who could be here in our place outnumber the number of sand-grains in Sahara if you could think all the number of ways our genes could be permuted we are quite lucky ; the number of events that has to happen in order for us to exist ; we are privileged to be alive and we should make the most of our time on this world'
Man is the creator of his own destiny.
If I am good in science I am a future engineer, if I am great in science I am the future Scientist
If I am good in arguing I am a future lawyer, if I am great in arguing I am a future politician
If I am good in managing, I am a future Manager,if I am great in managing I am a future Leader
If I am good in writing, I am a future Columnist,if I am great in writing I am aspiring writer
If I am good in confidence, I am a future worker,if I am great in confidence I am a future CEO
If I am good in explaining I am a future teacher,if I am great in learning I am a future philosopher
If I am good in wasting your time now, I am great in Nothing for future..;p
Who am I ? will depend on the context in which high you want to answer this question. For e.g, in India Indian women plays countless roles in her day to day life . For her to answer who am I is so tough that she will have answer for who is she for all but when answering to herself ? She will it have answer. This holds true for everyone in the periphery of their respective roles.
We're part of a memory storage program of the evolution of the human species. Life was simply a consequence of the fact that carbon is the most chemically fertile element due to it's ability to form so many versatile molecules. So thinking about it, we're just one among the many probability distributions possible to add entropy to the surroundings we exist within. All you really are needed for is to transmit previous experiences and traits to your offspring. So if you think that way, then every single being is and extension that arose from one ancient,primate and all of us, all 7 billion of us
We're part of a memory storage program of the evolution of the human species. Life was simply a consequence of the fact that carbon is the most chemically fertile element due to it's ability to form so many versatile molecules. So thinking about it, we're just one among the many probability distributions possible to add entropy to the surroundings we exist within. All you really are needed for is to transmit previous experiences and traits to your offspring. So if you think that way, then every single being is and extension that arose from one ancient,primate and all of us, all 7 billion of us is the same organism. Now existentially this question of 's no am I' arises from a human centric world ego. Once we realise that we don't really matter in the scheme of the universe other than to observe it's events and add more probability to certain events, you'll see that the question slowly fades away Because we don't really matter so much. There are so many different perspectives from which you can speak on this matter but I think this explanation has somewhat of a stronger foundation than others.
Human body consists of five senses, mind, intellect and ego. When the soul (jivatma) leaves the body, it carries with it senses, intellect and the ego. If we believe in rebirth, these transmigrate to the new body.
After numerous births, the jivatma becomes one with the paramatma (God). The drop becomes part of ocean. I consider myself that drop.
we are nothing zero. universe created from nothing and one day ot will end to nothing. so better is we have to focus on work given by nature. it does't matter for nature who we r only matter is balance of nature. we are on earth for some reason that is balnce should be maintain. every thing in this universe have some role, the day role end that thing also destroyed even massive black hole cant save themself from nature.! most imp thing is to realise why u are on earth.! every one on this earth come for some special work.. do it if u can or some one else complete it.! newton was not fi
we are nothing zero. universe created from nothing and one day ot will end to nothing. so better is we have to focus on work given by nature. it does't matter for nature who we r only matter is balance of nature. we are on earth for some reason that is balnce should be maintain. every thing in this universe have some role, the day role end that thing also destroyed even massive black hole cant save themself from nature.! most imp thing is to realise why u are on earth.! every one on this earth come for some special work.. do it if u can or some one else complete it.! newton was not first to realise gravitaional force earlier scientist knows about this but it was newton who complete that work..! when we know why we are on earth, that time you answer your own who m i.. so focus on your mind what r your qualities where u can use it in best way
(philosophically) Every being and other objects are a part of this universe as is a neuron to your body. This question arises in our minds when we are in a state of chaos and we begin to feel like a separate entity, but we are not a separate entity.
We will never know. No one can answer the question for you because the question is the same for everyone. Whoever has the answer did not understand the question. You may want to read Sri Ramana Maharishi's book on the same topic. It may help you
http://www.sriramanamaharshi.org/downloadbooks/whoami_all_languages/Who_Am_I_English.pdf
It has an answer like the question "What am I currently paying attention to?" has an answer. It is an answer you forge by making it.
I'm confuse Wich is the the question, who I am or who am I? Answer me.
You could do worse than watch seasons 1-3 of Mad Men, then ask yourself "who is Don Draper?"
Then consider if they're actually a different question.
I am not what I think, or dream, or wish.
I am what I do.
To know actually who you are, go and explore yourselves. Try different things. Do not limit yourselves. Develop independent thinking, unaffected by the of people around you. Stop thinking what others think of you. As you get to know yourselves, you will be surprised to know who actually you are and what all you can do. Accept it and just keep moving with the activities you love.
After so many years of my existence on this earth, my effort in knowing myself has become a puzzle. I still remember my early childhood days, standing in front of the mirror. I used to get confused on asking myself who am I? On knowing all philosophical explanations,experiencing the same feeling is the irony of life!!
Why do you want to answer this question in the first place? Is this some sort of homework question?
There isn't any "right" way to answer that question, so you can answer it in whatever way you want to. Though if you get right down to it, the "how" there is simply to think about it.
